Chester Divas 15 V Halifax RUFC Ladies 19

Halifax started the stronger side, with hard yards made up the middle of the park, then from a 10 meter line spinning the ball wide for Nina Zebedee-Howard to dive over in the corner, but was adjudged to have lost control in the grounding.

Halifax continued in the same vein with a number of good attacks, but the ball was spilled at crucial moments. Then came a period of Chester pressure resulting in a number of penalties against Fax at the ruck area.

After Halifax tried to run from their own 22 a penalty in front of the posts saw Chester 3-0 up.Further errors saw Chester in the Halifax half before a blindside move saw a last-ditch tackle from Nina unfortunately result in injury and her leaving the pitch. From a 5-meter scrum Chester spun the ball wide to score again, 8-0 and Fax under pressure!

Fax immediately sprung to life and a turnover at the first ruck from the kick off saw them go right then left for a try saving tackle on Lizzie Swales who had the skill to pop the ball to Amy Jones in support who crossed the line, a fantastic conversion from wide out by Lucy Cochrane saw Fax back in the game at 8-7.

Both sides worked hard, Abigail Sharp notably turning a number of balls over at the ruck area, but no further progress was made.The 2nd half saw Fax asleep and from a quick tap penalty the Chester 13 Ashleigh Davies waltz over from 40 yards out, try converted 15-7.

Fax immediately woke up and a strong attack saw Rachel Comyn-Doyle held up over the line.

Quick running backs coupled with forward support saw Fax into the Chester 10, a penalty 5 meters out, unfortunately saw a not straight line out, and Chester briefly reduced the pressure, only for Fax to repeatedly attack.

Unfortunately knock ons been Fax’s downfall from good attacking positions. A 50 meter break by Rachel saw Fax back into Chester’s 22, further pressure resulted in a 5 meter penalty to see a quick tap by Abigail crash over. 15-12 and all to play for.

Both sides continued to fight for the win, with Fax starting to fire through strong carries and good support. A 22 meter scrum after a knock on due to defensive pressure saw Rachel get her reward with a try under the posts, Lucy converting. 15-19.

Neither side was prepared to let the game slip and back to back penalties looked to have let Chester in, only for them to give away a penalty at the next breakdown. Fax weathered the storm to see out the game as winners a claim top of the table after 6 games!A credit to everyone who has pulled on the Fax shirt so far this season!