Sale 1861 35 vs. 05 Sefton Ladies
Intermediate Ladies Cup
By Andrew Hughes
Sunday saw Round 2 of the Women’s Intermediate Cup take place against a strong sided Sefton Ladies, who currently top the Women’s Championship North 2, one league above Sale 1861, and are currently undefeated this season.
Sefton Ladies made the brightest start to the game, putting some sustained pressure on the Sale 1861 defence which creaked but did not crack and some resilient defending kept out the visitors. A thunderous hit from Hailey Coutts created a turnover in the opposition 22m, which led to a penalty to Sale 1861, and a 3-0 lead courtesy of Aimee Wallace.
After some sustained defensive pressure, Sale 1861 managed to work their way up the field and attack the opposition try line, with an effort from Jess Randall being held up, before a lovely offload from Number 8 Hailey Coutts in the following scrum enabled Caoimhe Morris to dive over and make the score 8-0. Sale 1861 then started to find their rhythm and after some strong carries and quick ball, moved their way up the field where after a penalty advantage, quick thinking by Caoimhe Morris with a quick tap allowed Sarah Baker to touch down near the posts. Sale 1861 now lead 15-0.
Sefton’s defensive effort was strong and led to some forced errors from Sale 1861, but the pressure began its toll and a good tackle from Catherine Ansell allowed Hailey Coutts to lock onto the ball and win a penalty in front of the sticks, taken by Aimee Wallace, Sale 1861 18-0 to the better.
Sefton managed to pin Sale 1861 into their own 22m but a huge exit kick from Aimee Wallace led to a lineout on Sefton’s 10m line. A turnover allowed Sale 1861 to build through a few phases, but then a strong carry from Katherine Craine set Meg Buckley free who managed to skip pass the final defender and score. Unsuccessful conversion gave Sale 1861 a 23 point lead.
Just before half time Sefton managed to gain some momentum and played a number of phases in our half, but good pressure in defence lead to a turnover and a lovely pass from Hannah Birch led to Kathryn Craine scorching down the touchline to dot down on the stroke of half time.
HT Sale 1861 28-0 Sefton Ladies
The visitors made the brighter start to the second half with a flashback move from the scrum and a lovely offload allowing Sefton Ladies Winger (14) to fly down the touchline and score a super try. Sefton Ladies now on the board. 28-5.
Sale then looked to immediately respond and a hard line run by Aimee Wallace took Sale over the advantage line, with a lovely out the back play to Katie Ashcroft led to a strong carry close to Sefton’s line. A show and go by Meg Willoughby put sale in a great attacking position, until the ball was spun wide and Kathryn Craine touched down for her second of the day. Sale 33 – 5 Sefton.
Sefton held onto the ball for the majority of the last 20 minutes and only down to some dogged and relentless defending were Sale able to keep them out, even with a total of 4 yellow diminishing Sale 1861 numbers.
FT Sale 1861 35-05 Sefton Ladies
A highly contested match with both teams taking away a lot of positives from the game. Sale 1861 now progress onto Round 3, which will be played on the 15th December with our next opposition yet to be drawn.
Player of the Week
A big congratulations to Aimee Wallace who is our Sale 1861 Halloween Player of the Week!
Well done Aimee, keep up the hard work!
To catch up on the full match, click here
Match highlights soon to follow!
#onesale #salefamily
Edited by Aidan Giblett