Debutants impress as Abbey Nuns progress

A RETURNING mum scored a try as Reading Abbey Ladies extended their unbeaten run to eight games to progress to the next round of the Junior Cup after a 45-12 victory over Rosslyn Park.

Claire Stevens, on her second return game, impressed alongside three debutants as Dave Swan’s side continued their fine form.

It was a shaky start for the Nuns as they fell behind early on when Rosslyn Park worked the ball out to the wing to score in the corner.

Abbey showed character and resilience to get themselves back in the match, inspired by strong ball carries from forwards Hollie King, Meaghan Fowler and Danni Du Toit, with first-timer Natalie Mitchell producing a solid display in attacking the line-out.

Amy Wilson, an experienced Gaelic football player, used every ounce of her ball-handling experience to dive on a loose ball and pop it up to Annette Tomas who ran in to score, allowing Alice Denton to convert the first of six conversions.



Tomas went over again after the ball was fed to the backs, but Rosslyn Park replied quickly with a series of impressive ball carries which lead to their big second-row crashing over underneath the posts at 10-14 as the half-time whistle came.

In the secondhalf Tish Maybanks worked a clever move from deep to switch with King, who offloaded to Tomas who scored her hat-trick. Moments later, skipper Meaghan Fowler stormed through several tackles, linking up with scrum-half Sarah Northover and Stevens who celebrated her comeback try in style.

Sloppiness from Abbey saw them give away a penalty which gifted Rosslyn an easy, before one of their own wingers saw yellow for a high tackle.

Third debutant Vera Van Gool produced a storming run before and Wilson was close to opening her Abbey account after being tackled five metres from the line. Tomas grabbed a fourth while Denton scored in the closing minutes.