Saracens Amateur RFC Limited

Saracens women made the most of blustery conditions when they visited Cooke Fields on Sunday. Playing with the wind in the first half, they kicked into the corners well to ensure that Lichfield were pinned in their own half. They opened the scoring after five minutes with a try out wide and Saracens again showed their early dominance 10 minutes later when flanker Maggie Alphonsi scored from a pick and go, taking the score to 0-10.

Lichfield chose to play smart into the wind and kept the ball in hand, including a couple of successful driving mauls. However, Sarries found it all too easy to gain territory with the boot and earned themselves two more tries in the first half. The first came from inside centre Georgia Peedle who ran a hard line from a Saracens scrum, and the second from her centre partner Hannah Casey. Both were converted by fly half Sarah Mckenna which took the score to 0-24 after 31 minutes.

Lichfield’s efforts in both attack and defence were not to go unrewarded though. After fighting to keep possession and again working their way up the field, they eventually broke down Saracens’ defence and some crisp handling saw winger Chelsey Fuggle with space on the right hand side which was enough to ensure she scored in the corner.

The second half was a much more even affair, with some fantastic running rugby from both teams. One such instance was a well-worked break from Lichfield which saw No. 8 Vicky Fleetwood score in the corner. Outside centre Vicki Jackson converted expertly from the touchline to take the score to 12-24 with twenty minutes left to play.

This was Lichfield’s last trip over the whitewash however, and Saracens continued applying pressure to score two more tries, firstly through their second row and second from Alphonsi.

Photos by Elaine Peedle