Bath Rugby Ladies travelled away last Sunday to Richmond II for their fourth league fixture of the season. With the squad seeing a significant re-structure this year, the side saw a handful of new faces pulling on the blue, black and white for the first time.
Kicking off in glorious sunshine with vocal travelling support, the visiting side held their own in the opening minutes of the game, sharing equal possession and territory. However, before long the dynamic Richmond pack got the wind in their sails and scored three unanswered tries within twenty minutes to take the score to 17-0.
At this point the visitors found the form they had been searching for, and a series of quick rucks and slick handling allowed Bath winger Emily Sherwood to break through the defence, passing to fly half Sarah Holloway to score the try.
Richmond fought back immediately with another try within five minutes, but despite being four tries to one down at half time, Bath had not lost heart.
Ten minutes into the second half, after a sustained period of pressure, centre Alex Cooke broke through in the midfield to score under posts at full stretch. Fly half Sarah Holloway neatly slotted the conversion. This was followed fifteen minutes later by another try for the visitors, this time with new full back Harriet Waller finishing off in the left corner .
The home side once again responded with a try, but Bath were to have the final say when, after sustained pressure in the opposition 22, they earned a penalty which Holloway successfully kicked to earn the visitors a crucial losing bonus point, with the final score standing at 32-20.
The Bath squad were delighted to have finally shown the form they had been searching for, with the entire squad demonstrating fine flowing rugby. The Ladies will look to build on this momentum when they welcome Saracens II to Lambridge on Sunday 14th October.
Special thanks go to Berkeley Coaches for their wonderful support of the Bath Ladies team.
