UL defeat UCC ladies in season opener | Zoe Grattage
UCC Ladies Rugby faced off against old rivals ULLR on Wednesday the 14th of November in Annacotty. This was the first league match of the season for UCC and for many of their new players it was their first time playing for the college. Ultimately, the score line did not reflect the efforts of both teams throughout the match as there were many try scoring opportunities throughout. UCC were committed and very highly competitive from the starting whistle. The ladies worked hard and managed to confine UL to their twenty two for the first twenty minutes. Hard hits were put in from both sides but UCC were eventually rewarded for their efforts when their number ten, Aoife O Halloran, side stepped the opposition and made an exceptionally hard dash to the try line. She ran into difficulty at UL’s twenty two so popped the ball off to her supporting runner, Alison Miller, who scored the first try of the match. Zoe Grattage managed to kick the conversion straight in front of the post making the score 7-0 in UCC’s favour.UL came back hard however and slowly crept back into UCC’s ten metre line with hard runs from Anna Caplice and Chloe Pearse. A scrum from the five metre line resulted in UL’s first try, scored by Maria Eviston, with a successful conversion kick from Anna Caplice.UCC’s Aoife O Halloran kicked off once again and her team followed. UL retained possession of the ball sweeping it out to their backs until scrum half and captain, Sarah Jane Cody saw a gap out wide for which she was rewarded with her first try of the game. The conversion kick was not successful which left the score 12-7 when the first half whistle was blown.The second half was very intense with UCC throwing everything at the home side. UCC captain Mona Fehily didn’t give her opposing number time to breathe when scrum time came about and was helped in her efforts by flanker Hannah Lane who made multiple tackles running hard off the scrum. Number eight, Eimear Galvin made fantastic line breaks towards the UL try line off the back of the scrum but was shut down with a strong tackle from UL’s Leah Barbour.
Both teams put in fantastic efforts in the second half with UL’s Chloe Pearse making a great line break until Kelly McGuinness ripped the ball and regained possession for UCC. UL came back fighting and were getting dangerously close to UCC’s try line until UCC full back, Sinead McMahon made a heroic clearance kick. The line out was lost to UL and after multiple phases Leah Barbour reached UCC’s try line only to be held up by Alison Miller and tighthead prop Kelly McGuinness. The second half remained scoreless but this by no means meant that it lacked excitement.The final whistle blew when UL captain Sarah Jane Cody kicked the ball to touch and UL jumped in the air celebrating as though it was a league final win reflecting the pressure UL were put under throughout the game. UCC held their heads high and congratulated the home team. One thing is certain after this encounter; the next match with both of these teams will be a very high intensity clash.
