At the Bournbrook pitches, the Women’s Rugby Union 1st team suffered a heavy loss to the Edinburgh 1st team, losing by a score line of 50 – 5. However, the score does not tell the whole story, as the team played well for much of the 80 minutes, with a few lapses, aided by a standout performance by the Edinburgh outside centre, costing the team.
The scoring was opened up fairly early by Edinburgh, as a well worked line out deep in Birmingham territory gave the Number 8 a clear run to the corner. The second score came a short while later, as another line out in Birmingham’s 22 metre area, borne out of sustained pressure, led to the forwards driving over narrowly to the left of the posts.
This was a game in which both teams had too many unforced errors, particularly involving handling. A very high 21 scrums occurred during the game, though it was much more enjoyable to watch these scrums than those in the professional game, as very few scrums had to be reset. There were also a fair few penalties throughout the game, with both teams making mistakes at the breakdown. The penalty count was fairly even, with Birmingham awarded eight penalties, and Edinburgh awarded seven.
A lack of discipline was certainly not the downfall of the Birmingham team, though they did turn over the ball too many times, certainly negative in that respect, and missed some big tackles. In actual fact, the main reason that Edinburgh were able to put up so many points was the performance of their playmaking outside centre, who ran down the left wing to set up the third try, eventually scored by the winger. She also ran in four tries of her own, touching down twice either side of the break.
The first came after more pressure on the Birmingham line, as she ran it in to the corner, making the score 24 – 0. Her second came almost immediately after, as she broke from deep inside her own territory to touch down under the uprights. At the start of the second half, Birmingham had the lion’s share of possession, but eventually the stalemate was broken after a scrum around midfield led to the outside centre racing away to score her hat-trick try. With the score at 38 – 0, a turnover resulted in the centres fourth of the afternoon, running down the right-hand touchline.
Following this score, Birmingham was able to regroup and mount an attack on the Edinburgh line. Unfortunately, Birmingham coughed up possession once more, and Edinburgh cleared their lines. The relief did not last long, however, as Birmingham were able to run in a consolation try, with the centre powering past defenders to slide under the posts. At 45 – 5, the game was over, but Edinburgh was not finished, as they punished Birmingham for spilling the ball, with the winger running down the left to score in the corner.
The Birmingham squad can take some positives from this performance, as they were able to recover from leaking points to mount attacks in both halves. They can also take positives from the set pieces; scrums and line outs, and the attacking intent with offloading. A decent all round performance could be improved with more possession, for more sustained periods, which would also help the turnover differential, and slightly better organisation in defence, in order to prevent opposition sides from running around the defence.
