Northallerton RUFC women’s team wrapped up their home fixtures in style with a triumphant 64-0 victory over Hartlepool RUFC.
They welcomed Hartlepool RUFC to the Lodge, hoping to finish their home league fixtures on a high.
Both teams started brightly, with Northallerton forced into early defensive duties as Hartlepool pressured their try line and conceded early penalties.
Just as it seemed inevitable the visitors would score, Northallerton turned the ball over and settled into their patterns of play.
Captain Abby Robinson found the breakthrough try, charging through a gap and taking a well-timed pass to dive over the line.
This match saw the return of winger Lucy Robinson, who quickly reminded everyone of her talents.
After Northallerton regained territory in the Hartlepool half, fly-half Ali O’Brien knocked a delicate cross-field kick to Robinson, who was loitering in space.
A superb gather of the ball put Robinson away into the corner to put her name back on the scoresheet.
Not content with just the one try, she quickly latched on to a loose kick once play had restarted and, from within her own half, sprinted clear, blasting the two attempted tacklers out of her way to score a showpiece try.
O’Brien added the conversion.
Northallerton's momentum continued, with Laura Isherwood breaking the line to run in a try from deep within her own half.
Cara Williams spotted a gap close to the try line and finished off this concerted effort from the forward pack to take the game into the half-time interval once O’Brien had added the conversion.
Northallerton held the lead at 31-0.
The second half saw more of the same, with Northallerton quickly adding to their lead.
Winger Wiktoria Johnson found herself in possession and space with only one defender to beat.
She raced around the outside to score in the corner, with O’Brien adding the conversion.
Johnson quickly found herself in a repeat of her previous position and produced another display of speed to go around the outside, this time scoring her second try of the game under the posts to make O’Brien’s conversion a bit simpler.
Hartlepool had their best spell of possession since the initial kick-off and were pinned back onto their own try line, forced to put shoulders to task of defending stoutly for much of the second half.
The green wall of defence held firm, however, and through organisation and grit they kept the scoreboard to a nil.
After enduring a prolonged spell of Hartlepool possession, the crucial turnover was found and O’Brien delivered the long clearing kick to relieve the pressure.
The hosts turned defence into attack and with a sharp chase they secured the ball in a favourable position.
This time it was Natalie Gardiner who ran across the try line to score.
With the wind at their backs, Northallerton continued to press and scored another try through Cara Williams, before O’Brien rounded off her afternoon with a converted try under the posts to bring the game to a close.
The final score read Northallerton 64 – Hartlepool 0.
Forward of the match was awarded to Georgia Wilkinson, back of the match was awarded to Laura Isherwood and player of the match went to Ali O’Brien.
Meanwhile, Northallerton’s men’s second XV travelled with a full squad for their friendly fixture against local side Ripon RUFC.
The hosts are enjoying a plethora of players in the senior teams and were able to field a squad of 30 players.
Northallerton started well and for the opening quarter of the match, the play was closely contested as both teams vied to take control of the game.
However, Northallerton's defence began to fade under the constant barrage from Ripon’s players.
Holes began to appear in the middle of the pitch and a series of quick scores from Ripon meant that they went into the half-time break leading 26-7.
The second half restarted with Ripon making use of their numerical advantage on the bench, bringing on an entirely new set of players, something not often seen at any level of the game.
This inevitably raised the energy levels of the game and Northallerton were quickly forced to dig deep in order to maintain parity against the hosts.
As the half went on, the energy required to compete against fresh legs took its toll on Northallerton and Ripon gradually wore down the visitors with their higher tempo of play.
Going into the last few minutes of the game, the hosts were able to exploit the ever-increasing number of gaps in the visitor’s defence and score another couple of tries that took the game beyond the grasp of Northallerton.
The match finished with a final score of Ripon 36 – Northallerton 19.
