Lewes RFC

Lewes RFC U16s Lionesses visited Crowborough this Sunday for their third league game of the season.

The recent weather meant the pitch was energy sapping, but that didn’t deter the squad containing one player making her league debut. 

1. L McEntee E Woods  3. L Turner  4. M MacKenzie  5. E Soracchi
2. F Myers 7. E Redshaw  8. A Bellwood  9. T Moore  10. C Bains
3. L Moffat 12. L Parker-Phillipson  13. I Curd   14. I Stanger-Mitchell
4. E Campbell 16. G Barnard-Pierce

Prior to the game, all of the players had plaited their hair based on their shirt number.  You can see this here:  Lewes Lionesses TikTok

Playing into the sun, Lewes received the kick-off and went straight on the attack.  L Parker almost scored but was adjudged to have lost the ball forward whilst grounding.  Crowborough kicked the goal line drop deep, and Lewes gathered and went through a few phases to score under the posts with E Redshaw completing the move for the five points with the conversion by C Bains successful.

For the first half, Lewes had much of the ball and their ruck speed meant they were securing quick ball.  This was something the coaches had asked the team to work on during training and it paid dividends.  Some powering runs by the forwards and some great work by the half-backs, centres and full back meant Crowborough were on the back foot for much of the half.  When they did break out of their half a solid defensive effort from the Lionesses meant the danger was abated.  The wings also had work to do with some scything runs from L Moffat and fantastic support play by I Stanger-Mitchell made sure the whole team were involved throughout the game.

With a half time score of 0 – 47 in the Lionesses favour, the players went to sleep at the break.  That, together with Crowborough changing their attack meant they were on the scoreboard soon after the restart.  This jolted the Lionesses back into a running move from the training ground resulting in the final score of the game for E Campbell.  With the conversion being scored the referee blew the final whistle as the max score differential had been reached. 

Both teams continued in a friendly for 15 minutes with tries for both T Moore and E Redshaw completing their hat-tricks.

Scorers (league):  E Redshaw (2), L Parker-Phillipson (2), T Moore (2), L Moffat (1) E Campbell (1).  Conversions C Bains (7) – 87.5%

The Coaches’ player of the match was A Bellwood for her tireless work rate in the loose and her fantastic rucking and scrummaging, but it could have been anyone from the team they were all very impressive.  Crowborough awarded T Moore with their player of the match.

The Lionesses have a break now with the next matches scheduled for the new year.