Harrogate RUFC Ladies too good for Kenilworth Women

Sunday’s success was the Rudding Lane outfit’s second on the bounce following a 92-0 demolition of Firwood Waterloo in their previous outing, and sees them pull well clear of the Women’s Championship North One relegation zone.

Harrogate made a fast start to proceedings and Georgina Holmes stormed over the whitewash early on. This try between the sticks was followed by a conversion by Lauren Bolger, making the score 7-0.

Undeterred, Kenilworth responded quickly and narrowed the gap at 7-5 with a touchdown of their own within five minutes of falling behind.

The hosts were soon back on the offensive, however, and after playing the phases and biding their time, they broke through again.

Hooker Amber Barnicoat moved the ball swiftly to fly-half Tilly Churm, who saw a gap and burst through it to extend her team’s advantage.

‘Gate captain Rianna Manson was next to dot down after causing persistent problems for Kenilworth in the breakdown area. She broke the defence and powered through to the try line, leaving the visiting defence scattered behind her.

Two further Harrogate tries materialised after the interval, with winger Olivia Howarth registering the first of these when she outran the opposition after a break up the right flank and Bolger added the extras.

A couple of scores for Kenilworth meant that the game remained very much in the balance at 24-17. But, after a number of pauses in play due to injuries on the pitch, Harrogate were able to build sufficient momentum to make one last journey towards the try-line.

And it was prop Christine Pratt who rounded off the scoring to make it 31-17 late on.

Harrogate’s player of the match awards went to skipper Manson, Holmes and Bolger.

This Sunday, seventh-placed Gate travel to rock-bottom Sefton to contest their final fixture of the campaign knowing that a victory could see them finish the season in sixth position.