Kilburn Ladies vs Marlow - 26th October 2006

Kilburn 10 - Marlow 15

In their third league game of the season, Kilburn suffered a disappointing 15-10 loss to league new-comers Marlow.
They had several key players unavailable, and were unfortunate to lose winger Millie Paakkola to injury during the warm-up with a painful dislocated shoulder.
Kilburn started the game strongly, matching Marlow for pace and defending well, resulting in a frustrated opposition giving away several penalties within the first twenty minutes. Although the forwards looked strong in rucks and set-pieces, they failed to capitalise and the score remained 0-0.
Halfway through the first half, however, Marlow managed to get the ball out to their pacey winger, and despite a valiant attempted tackle by Cosmos' rookie Louise Challenger, she managed to slip through and score Marlow's first try. A second breakaway try followed soon after, and as the half-time whistle blew, Kilburn looked disconsolate.
After the break, however, Kilburn came out fighting and for the first ten minutes Marlow could not get a glimpse of the ball, despite their best efforts.
The Kilburn forwards looked well-drilled in attack, powering forward and getting the ball out to player of the day Lucy Zaug at centre, who sprinted past the Marlow defence to run the length of the pitch for the Cosmos' first try. Jen Spano narrowly missed converting.
This gave the Cosmos' the kick-start they needed, and for the next ten minutes all the play was in the Marlow half. Again the forwards made ground, with Lee Sinclair at half-back getting quick ball out to Ariana Ropiha at fly-half, who passed out to the aptly named Suzanne Marlow at outside centre. She made a storming run and was only five metres from the try-line when a crunching tackle pushed her out into touch. Despite a great line-out from hooker Liz Frankiln, Marlow had numbers out in the backs and again scored a breakaway try at the opposite end. After the re-start, Kilburn again showed grit and determination with the forwards making ground and exploiting a tiring Marlow side.
Once again it was Suzanne Marlow who used her pace to outrun the opposition, capitalising on a slick pass from lock Kay Smales to run in their second try from the half-way line. Jen Spano's attempted conversion hit the post.
Despite the loss, Kilburn remain third in the league table after 3 matches, and host bottom club Slough in a fortnight's time.