Warwickshire Ladies take county glory against East Midlands Ladies.  

Warwickshire Ladies arrived at Old Coventrians RFC to face East Midlands Ladies off the back of a hard loss against North Midlands Ladies.  The team knew they were capable of a good performance; it was just a case of putting what they had learnt from their previous game into practise.  Noticeable additions from Old Leamingtonians RFC Ladies boosted the squad size and gave options off the bench and in the starting fifteen writes James Clarke.  

Warwickshire started the stronger with good early straight running from Caz Spence and Stacey Tolley giving Warwickshire a good platform to attack.  Warwickshire scored first off a well worked move from the scrum allowing an easy run in.  The try was converted.  Warwickshire second score came straight from the kick off after the ball was gathered by Barbara Fratter who sidestepped through three East Mids defenders before drawing the Full Back to offload to captain Tolley to ash splash over the try line for the score.  Warwickshire were in the ascendancy with awesome work at the breakdown from Allison Condell and Mel Thompson turning ball over.  The Backs began to fire picking some good running lines cutting through the East Mids defence.  Only good defence from East Mids' cover tacklers prevented more quick scores.  Condell was later sinned binned for a technical offence after a string of quick penalties against the White and Reds.  With Warwickshire a player down, East Mids answered Warwickshire's early pressure with two tries of their own. Two well worked pick and drives led to the first score followed by some flowing handling and Warwickshire missed tackles for the second.  Two further scores from Warwickshire reaffirmed their position in front in the game as Sam Kincaid (Warwickshire Society) blew for half time.

HT 26 - 10.

Warwickshire rang the changes introducing Old Leamingtonians' skipper Hannah Leyland in place of Yaz Villiers at Scrum Half, Loz Tweed at No.8 as well as changes at Fly Half, Centre and in the Second Row.
In the second half it was East Mids who started strongest starving the powerful Warwickshire pack of ball to score the half's first try.  This was well converted from the touch line.  Warwickshire seemed to pick themselves up using the slope to their advantage pinning East Mids back.  With good work at the breakdown by the Forwards, Warwickshire began to add some structure to unleash powerful ball carriers Wrighton, Spence and Tolley on the East Mids defence at speed.  Warwickshire had hit their stride and the whole team began to take the ball forward with confidence.  Good rucking and then fantastic hands put Warwickshire in for two quick scores.  A head injury to the Warwickshire Tighthead in a try saving tackle meant the game would finish with uncontested scrums.  A final try from Spence rounded off a much improved performance from Warwickshire Ladies who must build further if they are to win their final County Championship game against Notts Lincs & Derby on 4th December.

FT 43 - 22.

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