UYWRUFC followed on from a strong showing in the 7s on Friday with a 25-10 win over Lancaster in deteriorating conditions on Saturday afternoon. York were untroubled by Lancaster’s strong start and showed their superior quality to pull away and claim a comfortable victory, securing 4 valuable Roses points.
After both their 7s teams had put in strong performances to overcome their Lancastrian opponents the day before, York were looking to make it three wins out of three in Roses 2015. They did so with relative ease, captain Tilly Kimbugwe leading the charge with a brace of tries.
Lancaster came out the blocks quickly and York found themselves camped in their own half for the first few minutes of the match. Some robust defence led to a turnover and York gradually made their way up towards Lancaster’s line. Spurred on by the loud contingent of home support it was Serena Brymer who managed to burst over for York’s first try. Fly half Harriet Giles missed a tough conversion.
It wasn’t long until York crossed the line again, this time through the brilliant Juliette Carter. Her strong running caused problems for the Red Rose all weekend, and a day after single-handedly dismantling Lancaster in the 7s, scoring four tries, she found her way through the defence again to score. Giles missed the tough conversion, this time under a torrent of abuse from a Lancastrian supporter with a megaphone. While the Lancaster support was admittedly strong all weekend, it sometimes went too far as was the case here.
Lancaster were spurred into life and after a period of sustained pressure they found their way over in the corner. After the missed conversion the referee blew for half time and the score stood at 10-5.
At this point the game was there for the taking by either team and it was the women in black and gold who took it by the scruff of the neck. After more attacking possession in the Lancaster half they scored to extend their advantage to 10 points.
Captain Tilly Kimbugwe then got in on the try-scoring action, going over after the referee played a good advantage when Carter was denied her second of the game by a high tackle.
Lancaster managed to respond straight away but Kimbugwe scored her second soon after with a strong run from a quick tap to restore York’s advantage to put the game beyond the Red Rose.
Skipper Kimbugwe had this to say about UYWRUFC’s Roses performance: “The girls played fantastically! I couldn’t fault them. Lancaster fought hard and they were all really good games. It’s the best we’ve played all season and it truly showed in the three victories! I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”