Kilburn Cosmos Ladies vs Tabard Ladies - 5th October 2008

Tabard Ladies 5 - Kilburn Cosmos Ladies 10

After a disappointing loss in their first game of the season, Kilburn Cosmos Ladies were back on form last Sunday with a 10-5 win over league leaders Tabard. In very wet and windy conditions, Kilburn looked a well-drilled team, with the forwards gaining ground in the scrums early on and winning ball in the rucks. Lee Sinclair at half-back was outstanding, getting to every breakdown and spinning the ball out quickly to Ariana Ropiha at fly half.

It was from one of these rucks that Kilburn scored their first try after ten minutes, Ropiha passing to Lucy Zaug at flanker who used her pace to sprint from the halfway line. Prop Jen Spano narrowly missed kicking the conversion. After this, Tabard began to fight back and Kilburn found themselves defending their own try-line.

Excellent defensive work by the Cosmos forwards, in particular player of the day Trudy Mylrea, meant that Tabard could not break through and their attempt at a try was held up on the line by prop Nikki Burgess. Kilburn turned the game around after this, and were soon back on the attack, with another well-worked ruck enabling Sinclair to get the ball out to Kate Reynolds, playing centre in her first game for the Cosmos. She saw off several attempted tackles and ran in Kilburn's second try of the match, which Spano was again unlucky not to convert.
Tabard doggedly fought back once again, getting the ball out to the wing who found space and powered home for their only try of the game, which was not converted. The second half saw an improvement in the weather, but by now both teams were tiring and despite further pressure from Kilburn, who were unlucky not to score again, the score remained 10-5.

Kilburn 10 (L Zaug, K Reynolds tries)

Team: J Spano, L Franklin, N Burgess, N Barton, T Mylrea, K Smales, L Zaug, J Charlton, L Sinclair, A Ropiha, M Paakkola, K Aikenhead, K Reynold, A Gallagher, S Marlow(C). Reserve: H McKenzie