Ladies win SW 10s Trophy
By Frank Stormont
May 3 2007
Ladies score 254 points to 10 on their way to the Inaugural South West 10s Tournament. With Tracy Corby scoring 5 tries and 27 conversions!
Albion Ladies rack up 254 points on their way to winning the Inaugural South West 10s Tournament.
Rugby 10s is played on a similar lines to 7s but has 5 forwards and 5 backs and so is more of a mixed game. The 8 teams taking part were split into two groups who played round robin matches with Albion coming top of their group before eventually ending up the first ever champions of the south west.
Anna Shepard and Rachel Tucker were appointed joint captains before the trip but with Anna suffering ahead injury against Super Marine in the second match Rachel had to take more of a role than she had expected. Albion took 14 player squad with them who all took a major part in the competition.
Only two players failed to put their mark on the score sheet as Albion ran in 38 tries on the day with Beth Simmons picking up 6 of them and 5 conversions. Tracy Corby ran in 5 and added 54 points with the boot bringing her total points tally to 79 to become the top point scorer of the competition.
Albion 77 Wessex 0
This match was about finding the teams feet in the tournament and they certainly did running in 11 tries in the 20 minute match. All the tries were converted by first choice kicker Tracy Corby who also had time to score 2 tries bringing her total for this match to 32 points.
Scorers :- Tries Anna Shepard, Beth Simmons, Jade Whitby, Jenny March, Kim Davey, Nancy Stone, Rachel Tucker, 2xTerri Cormack, 2xTracy Corby Conversions 11xTracy Corby
Albion 45 Super Marine 0
With Super Marines likely to be playing in the same league as Albion next season they were expecting it to be a tougher match. Super Marines had fielded a large very physical side playing a very forwards orientated side. Albion were sucked into the forward play for a while before showing their superiority and running in 7 tries. Beth Simmons and Kim Davey played a key role in the match scoring three tries between them.
Scorers :- Tries Beth Simmons, 2xKim Davey, Nancy Stone, Rachel Tucker, Sonia Clatworthy, Tracy Corby Conversions 5xTracy Corby
Albion 33 Gloucester 5
Albion expected that Gloucester were not going to be a push over particularly when they had added a couple of Premiership One Worcester players. The match was the most physical of all the group matches with a couple of scuffles breaking out Albion stuck to their game play and came out winners and top of the group.
Beth also had the kicking duties after Track Corby was replaced in the second minute. She stepped up to the mark converting 4 of the 5 tries one of which she had scored herself.
The clean sheet was spoilt in the last minute with a Gloucester try.
Scorers :- Tries Beth Simmons, Claire Steer, Kim Davey, Nancy Stone, Sonia Clatworthy Conversions 4xBeth Simmons
Semi-final - Albion 70 Salisbury 0
Albion then took on the second placed team, Salisbury, from the other group. With Albion being on a rest period they were able to watch their opponents in the final match in their group. So Albion new that they were going to be in for a very physical match. They had a big pack but by the end of that match they were showing signs of exhaustion.
With Albion up 42 - 0 at halftime some players were rested for the final. Terri Cormack ran in a hat trick with the last try coming in the last minute of the match.
Scorers :- Tries Anna Shepard, 2xBeth Simmons, Jade Whitby, Rachel Tucker, 3xTerri Cormack 2xTracy Corby Conversions Beth Simmons 9xTracy Corby
Final - Albion 29 Cheltenham 5
Cheltenham had beaten Gloucester 22 - 12 in the other semi final and again Albion were lucky enough to have an opportunity to watch that match. Cheltenham played a wide game passing the ball wide and running around the outside.
Albion changed their game plan to counter the other finalist's game. With a lead of 22 - 0 at half time Albion felt that they had the game in the bag joint skipper Rachel Tucker scored a try in the second half which was converted by Tracy. Albion kept a clean sheet until the last minute when Cheltenham scored a consolation try.
Scorers :- Tries Beth Simmons, Jenny March, Kim Davey, Rachel Chidgey, Rachel Tucker Conversions 2xTracy Corby
Albion are hoping that they will be able to add Georgina Rozario to their squad for the national finals on the 13th May. Georgina has been helping England A in the European Championship reach the final against France A.
Rachel Tucker who captained Albion for the first time prefers to see a captain lead by example. Rachel in the past had captained of Shannon and her college side. She said after the competition " It was very enjoyable and was probably the best team performance we have had all season."
Rachel was impressed with the way all players had performed and was unable to single out any players that out shone the others. "there was a great feel good factor that we had won despite being close to exhaustion."
Squad: Vee Thompson, Claire Steer, Terri Cormack, Jenny March, Rachel Tucker , Sonia Clatworthy, Rachel Chidgey, Beth Simmons, Nancy Stone, Anna Shepard, Tracy Corby, Jade Whitby, Kim Davey, Megan Higgins
Total Scores :- Tries 2x Anna Shepard 6x Beth Simmons Claire Steer 2x Jade Whitby 2x Jenny March 5x Kim Davey 3x Nancy Stone Rachel Chidgey 4x Rachel Tucker 2x Sonia Clatworthy 5x Terri Cormack 5x Tracy Corby Conversions 5x Beth Simmons 27x Tracy Corby