Bath Rugby Ladies were back in league action last weekend, following a couple of weekends off due to postponed matches, winning comprehensively over the visiting Rosslyn Park at Lambridge.
Photo: Paul Hughes
Rosslyn Park Ladies were unable to field a front row, so Bath, lucky to have two full front rows available, showed good sportsmanship and offered to lend the visitors three players for the first half.
This allowed the fixture to be fulfilled and led to the two Bath front rows scrummaging against one another, gaining valuable game-time.
It was agreed by both sides that the scrums would be uncontested in the second half, meaning that Bath would automatically gain the league points for the fixture.
Nevertheless, the Bath side went out with plenty of intent to score tries. Within the first five minutes, centre Lottie Holland, just returned from England Under 20s duty, made a break in the middle of the pitch, holding in two tacklers before throwing a slick pass out to wing Tamsin Barber, who showed great pace to speed down the wing and score.
Captain Sarah Holloway converted the early score to make it 7-0.
Another break from Holland came five minutes later. Fullback Kyat Southwell was on her shoulder and quickly offloaded to wing Barber who cantered in for a second score. 12-0.
A third swiftly followed, the Bath forwards setting the platform nicely with successful pick and goes, before the backs pushed it wide to opposite wing Zoe Gabbidon, who ran in from wide and scored under the posts. 19-0.
The second quarter saw an RPL fightback, with some heavy hits flying in and forcing a couple of errors from the home side, and after a period of sustained pressure, Rosslyn Park scored in the corner, and soon after, bringing the score to 19-10.
Bath defended bravely but RPL were able to add another just before the break, scoring under the posts and converting to trail just 19-17.
Bath picked up the intensity in the second half, with fly half Sarah Holloway swinging around the back of a scrum before popping to prop Fran Gilpin who showed great strength to break through several tackles before offloading to wing Barber, who crossed the whitewash for her hat-trick.
Gilpin added a score of her own after a sustained period of pressure from Bath, while the finishing score was a superb solo effort from Holloway, who made a line break in the midfield and stepped three RPL defenders to score under the posts.
She converted her own try to bring the final score to 38-17.
Back of the Match went to Tamsin Barber for her impressive running and well-taken hat-trick, while Forward of the Match went to prop Fran Gilpin, for a powerful try and great handling.
Bath Ladies’ next league game is on Sunday 6th March against Wimbledon at home, while they face the visiting University College Dublin Ladies team in a friendly at Old Edwardians on Saturday 27th February.
