Lewes women on a roll

The Lewes bandwagon rolled on with a hard fought victory over Tottonians in blustery conditions at Hove RFC. The kind gesture of the pitch loan from Hove allowed the game to go ahead as Lewes pitches were judged too waterlogged.

Lewes pressed hard from the off and scrum-half Dani Flower got some good clean balls out to the backs, despite an enthusiastic opposition number 9 putting on the pressure. Lewes were rewarded when good interplay between forwards and backs allowed Alice Cook to fight her way over for the first score. Clarkie added the extras.

Lewes continued to dominate the contact situations with only a high penalty count allowing the away side any reprieve. Before the break some exquisite back play put Heather Shaw in space for a scintillating 70 metre run resulting in a try under the posts, which was again converted.

The 2nd half was a scrappy affair due in part to poor refereeing of the breakdown but also due to the disruption and concern caused when Lewes lost centre Heather Shaw to a suspected broken collarbone.

Despite Tottonians scoring a late unconverted try Lewes held on to win 14 –5. This victory was built on outstanding defence from every player on the field and lifted Lewes up to 4th in the league.

Very best wishes and hopes for a quick recovery to Heather, you'll be back scoring tries in no time. Also to Jen who hurt her back in the warm-up.

Awards

Back off the match: Alice Cook

Forward of the match: Chrissie Peanut

Twat of the match: Nat Clarke - for falling for the beard prank

Team

• Julia Scanlan
• Sarah Clarke
• Natalie Clarke
• Susanna Smale
• Michelle Twiddy
• Sarah Turner
• Chrissie Farley
• Dani Flower
• Jo Murray
• Kristy Wright
• Lucy Tyrrell
• Heather Shaw
• Alice Cook
• Sadie Graham
• Charlotte Tucker
• Charlotte Maynard
• Rab Willis
• Sonja Da Silva
• Carol Moore
• Emily Kapoor
• Jen Ripley
• Aimee Day

Dates for your diary

The next game is on Sunday 16 November at Hove. This will be a training match with Hove 2nds and Worthing to give new players a chance for some match practice.

The next League game is away against Guildford on Sunday 23 November, 14.00 kick-off.

Match report by Tyrrell and Co. Publishers Ltd.

Hard work pays off at last!

Lewes started brightly having the better of early exchanges, this early pressure paid off when fine hands along the line putting winger Kristy Wright in space on halfway. Superb evasive running allowed her to score under the posts with Sarah Clarke adding the extras. Barnes tried to get themselves back into the game but were met with stout Lewes defence at every turn, Jo Murray in particular cutting down the dangerous Barnes no 10 on several occasions.

The Lewes pack were starting to assert their dominance winning several scrums against the head. This provided Lewes with the platform to mount a series of attacks towards the Barnes line culminating in a powerful, jinking run from Heather Shaw to cross for the second try. Clarkie again on target with conversion.

Lewes maintained their domination in the second half. A strong drive of 20 meters by the Lewes pack resulted in a scrum 5 meters form the Barnes line. From this scrum Heather was able to power over for her second try. Clarkie added the 2 points.

A trade-mark Sadie Graham run, leaving a trail of would-be tacklers in her wake was harshly stopped short when the referee penalised her textbook handoff that knocked the Barnes 10 off her feet. Sadie didn’t allow this to dampen her enthusiasm, minutes later embarking on another bullocking run of 60 metres only to be hauled down 5 meters short off the try line. The ball was masterfully collected by Kristy touching down for a brace of tries. Clarkie maintained her 100% kicking record with the last kick off the game running out deserved winners 28-0.

Back off the match: Jo Murray

Forward of the match: Clarkie/Susanna Smale

Opponent's choice: Heather Shaw

Team:

• Julia Scanlan
• Sarah Clarke
• Natalie Clarke
• Susanna Smale
• Michelle Twiddy
• Aimee Day
• Sarah Turner
• Chrissie Farley
• Dani Flower
• Jo Murray
• Kristy Wright
• Lucy Tyrrell
• Heather Shaw
• Alice Cook
• Sadie Graham
• Charlotte Tucker
• Charlotte Maynard
• Anita Hillman
• Summer Ocean Makepeace
• Emily Kapoor

Lewes women's rugby are playing their next league game at home against Old Tottonians on Sunday 9 November – 2.00pm kick-off. Supporters very welcome!

Match report by Tyrrell and Co. Publishers Ltd.

One game closer to victory

The game kicked off with Lewes a player short and with little time to prepare due to rubbish traffic in London. Despite the numerical disadvantage Lewes started tenaciously with a combination of tough defence and strong running forcing their opponents back. The home side had to wait 10 minutes for their extra player to pay off when quick hands in the backs put the left winger in space enabling her to touch down and score the opening try which was duly converted. This was followed by 2 tries in quick succession when Lewes was again exposed down the right flank.

However Lewes never allowed heads to drop and now up to the full compliment of players led a number of attacks into the H&F half. A superb performance from the Lewes pack, in particular the front 5, was providing the platform from which the backs were able to launch a series of telling offensives. With a combination of powerful running and deft hands with only desperate last ditch tackling from the hosts keeping Lewes scoreless at half time.

The second half started in the same vein with Lewes pressing hard but being denied the elusive score. Superb handling in the backline opened up the home sides defence on several occasions with aggressive running from Dorothea Kleffner and Alice Cook.

As players tired and gaps started opening H&F managed to fashion a number of opportunities only to be met by some crunching Lewes tackles (the H&F left wing will be having nightmares about the sand pit!)

Some strange refereeing decisions were compounded with the very harsh sin binning of Clarkie for a high-ish tackle (the first sin binning of her illustrious career!) This left Lewes down to 14 players for the second time. Despite superb Lewes defence from 1 to 15 the home side were able to cross for 2 further scores to put a slightly undeserved slant on the score line finishing as it did 31 – 0.

This proved to be a much improved Lewes performance with the whole team putting in an absolute stormer. Especially well done to newbies Michelle Twiddle, Susanna Smale and Chris Farley, and great to have old girl Alice Cook back after 4 years away as well as Saz Turner returning to Lewes at last after a long injury!

The commitment, enthusiasm, team spirit and general skill level on display was fantastic and considering a third of the team was new to the squad it’s clear that we’re only going to get better. Bring on the rest of the season WHOOOOP WHOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lewes women's rugby are playing their next league game at home against Barnes on Sunday 1st November – 2.00pm kick-off. Supporters very welcome!

Team:

1. Hoolio Scanlan
2. Sarah Clarke
3. Aimee Day
4. Michelle Twiddy
5. Susanna Smale
6. Jo Murray
7. Saz Turner
8. Chris Farley
9. Dani Flower
10. Rab Willis
11. Claire Imray
12. Lucy Tyrrell
13. Dorothea Kleffner
14. Alice Cook
15. Heather Shaw

Match report by Tyrrell and Co. Publishers Ltd.

Bake sale anyone?

Heather Shaw and Kristy (Skippy) Wright stormed Lewes to victory on Saturday in a well-contested friendly against Canterbury. Playing away, Lewes was lacking many of its usual players including Aimee (El Capitano Nik Nak) Day who was resting a back injury.

The game was divided into thirds and it became quickly apparent in the first that Canterbury were going to have a fight on their hands. Supporters commented on the “wall” of defence that denied much room for any Canterbury player, despite a constant crashing attack from their centres. A strategic move to have Skippy on the flank meant that she was able to use the new experimental five-metre law to her advantage. Her tireless driving through eventually won her a break for the line and she scored between the posts. The rest of the forwards, never so focused as on Saturday, made use of the friendly to practice a system of pods, ensuring that no ball was ever left un(wo)manned. This tactic provided plenty of ball for the back line to try out some new moves. Sonja (Sonic) Davis was welcomed back to the forwards after recovering from injury and she certainly made her presence known, using her strength to crash the ball off penalties.

A break in concentration and some quick feet allowed Canterbury their try in the second but Karen Matthers provided some text book try-saving tackles on the wing despite never having played the position before. A new partnership formed between returning Lewes player Lucy Tyrell as inside centre and Heather Shaw outside her added the sparkly icing to an already tasty back line cake. They are to be congratulated on their excellent communication, crunching tackles and positive encouragement. Their quick decision in the third to take the ball blind allowed Heather to run rings around the Canterbury defence to score. And the cherry on top? Sadie (Twinkletoes) Graham chasing her surprisingly fast size 12 feet down the pitch and literally flinging opposition players aside as if they were a mere nuisance.

Lewes were denied quite a few opportunities through silly mistakes and a strong Canterbury defence so the score could have been higher. Although a well-deserved victory, coach Noel Foley probably now realises he has his work cut out if Lewes are to continue the winning streak they are enjoying. If it was such a pleasure to play, this game must have been even more of one to watch!

Lewes women are playing their first league game at home against Hampstead on Sunday 21st September – 2.30 kick-off.

Tries: Kristy Wright (1) Heather Shaw (1)

Pictured: (top) Kristy Wright about to score with players in support, (right) Sadie Graham crushing ex-Lewes player Alexa Kent into the ground, (left) Jo Murray making a break for the line.

Lewes 27 - Worthing 17

Lewes women kicked off the season at home on Saturday with a training match against Worthing in exceptionally hot conditions. Both teams had players new to the teams and new to the game and this provided them with a big challenge from the outset. Lewes’s 15 and Worthing’s 13 received a welcome boost in numbers from Shelford’s mini-touring side.

The first of four halves saw both teams struggling to get uniformity but as the game moved on and points appeared on the board, a clear competition was formed. The new Lewes coach, Noel Foley, had the opportunity to try players out in different positions and seemed to find a winning combination by half-time. Lewes scored an equalizer which was converted to bring the score to 17-17. At this point, Lewes’s game really came together and the team denied Worthing any further points. The Worthing scrum, increasing in strength over the course of the game, eventually proved to be unsuccessful against the experienced Lewes forwards. The last quarter saw Lewes retaining a lot of possession but still unable to get the clean ball out that the backs needed. This combined with some powerful defence from the Worthing wings kept the home side from scoring, even though they had long periods of attacking play. Exhaustive determination from both teams provided spectators with some good rugby moments, and some understandably scrappy ones too. However, it was more than both teams could ask for considering the conditions and the developing nature of both teams. Lewes were pleased with the win, but Saturday’s game also illustrated that hard work lies ahead for the 2008-09 season. They look forward to a second pre-season friendly away against Canterbury on Saturday 6 September, 3pm kick-off.

A special word goes out to top try-scorer Sarah Fairhurst who played her last game for Lewes on Saturday, scoring four tries just to make sure we don’t forget her! All the best in London town Nips, and come back and see us soon!

Tries: Sarah Fairhurst (4) Nia Evans (1)

Conversions: Rebecca Willis (1)

15 July 2008 // Lewes Women’s Rugby World Domination

Lewes Women’s Rugby began their recruitment drive on Sunday 13 July with “participation” in the Brighton Carnival. With the reasoning that this annual event could very well be a haven for liberal-thinking, active and boisterous women, the throng of women’s rugby players made their way through town in pursuit of the sounds of drums and funky music. They were soon confronted by clouds of bouncing fake afros, pavement traffic at a stand-still and a really happy dancing guy; it became clear that a plan of action was required if this recruitment drive was going to be any sort of success.

The huge mob of women’s rugby players decided that they had already worked so hard just cutting up the flyers and getting to the Carnival, that they should stop, collect their thoughts, and refuel their bodies with beer and their mobile phones with juice. At this point, Boyo made sure she missed none of the vital discussions by recording the meeting in a set of highly accurate minutes (to be posted soon). With the landlord’s permission, flyers were left at the Victory pub marking the first step in the Lewes Women’s Rugby World Domination effort. With a new sense of Dutch courage, the horde of players piled back out into the streets, heavy with expectation and with the pressure of beer on their bladders.

After some Minkying with The Bear (pictured) and some financial replenishment, the huge rabble made their way towards the seafront to attempt to find the Carnival which appeared to have slipped away from them an hour previously. Injuries were abundant by now and it seemed only sensible to make a stop at Doctor Brighton’s for some much needed First Aid remedies (more beer). Again, the landlord kindly allowed the mass of vociferous yet friendly rugby girls to distribute flyers in strategic places. Meanwhile, our very own Matron took herself to higher plains of consciousness with her First Aid remedy, and allowed herself to become a little tipsy, all in the name of rugby of course. She was soon brought back down to earth when her knight in shining car turned up to rescue her.

Moving onwards through the busy streets of Brighton, the mass of women’s rugby players decided that a few sports’ bars would be ideal places to further their Plan for World Domination. Varsity offered one person watching some cricket but also some vital feasting, thanks to Leg End for the 800 bags of crisps which fed the masses. In the team’s penultimate stop at Bellushi’s, Boyo actually took it upon herself to speak to someone about joining women’s rugby. This never-seen-before tactic was to go on to become the primary method for recruitment and earned her well-deserved applause. The evening’s endeavours eventually wound up at Charles Street where the crowd of rugby girls decided that it was time to sit back and reap the rewards of their hard work, that is to drink some more beer.

A handful of people couldn’t make it, so special thanks goes to the swarm of people who did show up namely Leg End, The Bear, Boyo, Matron and Alpha Dawg. We hope that Nips Fairhurst recovers from her nasty bout of Disgustingisis Hangoverus, that Chickkken and Charlotte soon realise that there is no room for stool ball in Lewes Women’s Rugby World Domination, and that Twinkletoes and Mel learn to embrace their Alpha fear by picking up the phone when she is calling to bully them. Love you all!

Want to help recruit for Lewes Women's Rugby? Download our flyer! >>

1 July 2008 // Summer news

Pre-season training is underway and there are lots of exciting things happening at Lewes! The women's rugby team has managed to secure a new coach in the shape of Noel Foley. Noel was persuaded to take on the girls by our very own scrum-half Dani "Chickkken" Flower. She accosted him outside a pub in Steyning back in May and then demonstrated how to be a cheese by rolling down the high street. Noel was of course powerless to resist and had no hesitation in agreeing to help us out.

Huge thanks go to Lewes Rugby Club and Anthony Beckett, former girls' section coach, as he has organised and helped fund a new set of shirts for Lewes ladies. With this, the new website at www.womensrugby.org, a growing number of committed players and plenty of ideas for the season ahead, there is a really positive feeling for the future of Lewes Women's Rugby! Read our Captain's review of last season if you don't believe us, she’s so excited she can barely keep her Nik Naks in! (Aimee Day - pictured here with Roger, team sex toy).

1 June 2008 // 2007-08 end of season Captain's review

Here we are again after another eventful season! We finished fourth in the RFUW National challenge South East West Division 2 league and third in the Sussex cup, played a very painful 7's tournament at East Grinstead, and toured to Bristol for a highly enjoyable 10's tournament. All in all it has been a very turbulent season.

This time last year it was questionable whether we would even enter a side in the league but Lewes Women's Rugby have managed it again. This would not have been possible without the faith, support and commitment of those vital to the club. I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to both Tim (Poor Timmy - pictured right) Lovett and Sarah (Clarkie) Clarke for yet again making that possible.

We started last season with a differing squad of roughly seven players. Summer training was enjoyable and the boys made us feel very welcome as we joined in with their fitness training.

We started the season relying heavily on the students of Brighton and Sussex Universities, which proved difficult with their work and other commitments resulting in the team ever changing and creating a very disjointed side. We then unfortunately we lost our key number 10 Jo Murray who went travelling, but luckily Lou Bevan stepped up to the task.

We were very fortunate to gain many new and exciting players, four hugely influential girls from Canterbury who were a god send namely Rebecca (Rab) Willis (Players’ Player), Alexa (Lexitive) Kent, Jules (Hoolio) Scanlan and The Bear (pictured). We also gained one of our strongest and dirtiest players, Sadie (Twinkletoes) Graham. Thanks to these girls, as well as jug-downing champion Nat (Mel) Clarke also a very strong addition to the team, Dani (Chickkken - pictured below holding a stick) Flower - our new scrum half who also came across from Hove and has improved as the season has gone on, and Laura (Whoopsie) Belsham who has been great at beasting us in warm ups. Then we had Nia (Boyo - pictured below) Evans, a little Welsh sheep who turned up one cold rainy Thursday, debuting against Hove the following Sunday (I was hugely apprehensive about bringing her on, talk about feeding her to the lions!) During this game she scored the only try for Lewes and has gone from strength to strength ever since (that showed me), won Player of the year and become one of our top try scorers.

We had many players coming and going for Lewes and playing when work, Uni, or injury allowed: Jen Ripley, Nem (Nempho) Hoare, Chloe (The Law) Taylor and Amanda (A Man - duh) Corrigan. Then we had the old girls, without whom we wouldn't have been able to enter the league at all. Thank you again for your ongoing support to Clarkie, Sarah (Nips) Fairhurst, Emma (Dave) Beckett, Abbi (Princess) Mills, Lou (LeMeOut) Bevan (three pictured left), Karen (Matron) Mathers and Charlotte (charlotte) Tucker. Charlotte has had a great season with her continuous training and determination, and won most improved player. This commitment to the team made it possible for us to compete in all our games, and towards the end of the season we managed to get some continuity within the side. We started enjoying the rugby and winning games which I feel is a massive achievement. Not only that, we managed to get huge number of women to attend the end of season dinner and 21 of the girls to participate in a very amusing and messy tour which is awesome. I really think this is the start of something very good!

I am really looking forward to this next season. With the core of enthusiastic strong players and with new additions like Kristy (Skippy - pictured right) Wright and Sonja (Sonic) Davies, I really feel we have a very exciting few months of rugby ahead of us. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new coach Noel Foley to the club, and say a sad farewell to some key players who will be greatly missed but always welcomed back whenever they want a game: Nips, Dave, and Lexitive. Good luck in your new journeys and remember we will be here for games and also drinking sessions whenever you are in town!!!

On that note girls let’s welcome the next season in with good hard summer training and lots of drinking and let’s look to getting further up that league board!!!

El Capitano - Aimee Day