Women’s Rugby Round-Up: Highfield Overcome Cooke
There was a full round of games in Division Two of the Women’s All-Ireland League over the weekend, with one re-fixed game in the top flight also taking place. Read on for a full-round-up.
In Division One, Highfield picked up their second bonus point from as many games with a hard-fought win in Belfast over Cooke. The northerners were determined to atone for their big loss to Blackrock last week and took a deserved 5-0 lead after some good work up front.
However Highfield’s four tries from Norita Duggan (2) , Deirdre Lynch and Aoife Mahony , along with a few Duggan conversions and a penalty, gave the Cork outfit a comfortable enough win.
There were strong performances from Highfield number eight Deirdre Scannell and prop Megan Vanderpol , while Rachel Boyd was a real threat for Cooke on the openside.
In Division Two, there were some close games again this weekend and it looks like the encounters in this section will be tight throughout the season.
The all-Cork affair saw Ballincollig beat Youghal 25-5. The city team had beaten the east Cork side well in a pre-season friendly but this was a tougher game. In the end, Ballincollig scored tries through Siobhan O’Leary, Kate McCarthy, Geraldine Gallahue, Adele Stevenson and Barbara Whooley to see out a good victory and keep their 100% league record alive.
The Nenagh and Waterpark game was a closer tie with Waterpark coming out on top by 19-10. Tries by Loiuse Landers and Ger Kinnane steered the Waterford team home. There were also strong performances from out-half Kate Canty and flanker Kate Hitchen.
Waterpark will be pleased with the win as they just fell short last week against Ballincollig, though they did collect a bonus point in that game.
Elsewhere, Trinity overcame Newbridge with a convincing 30-5 victory. Tries from Marie Therese Bolger, Ailis Egan, Fiona Tinto, Jane O’Neill and Julia Sarda sealed a good win.
In other games, Malahide beat City of Derry 24-0, Navan edged out Armagh 12-0 and Old Belvedere lost to Dublin rivals St Mary’s by five points.
WOMEN’S ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE –
DIVISION ONE RESULT:
Highfield 29 Cooke 8
DIVISION TWO RESULTS:
Ballincollig 25 Youghal 5
Malahide 24 City of Derry 0
Armagh 0 Navan 12
Old Belvedere 10 St. Mary’s 15
Trinity 30 Newbridge 5
– Click here for last week’s Women’s Rugby Round-Up