365 Sporting Days

I hadn’t been able to watch Saracens Women play so far this season, the fixtures tend to be scheduled to clash with the Premiership etc matches.  I am going to start with a moan, that seems crazy to me, if the game wants to grow crowds they either need to have double headers or put then women’s games on at a different time and day.

However this weekend the men played on Saturday, the women on Sunday.  Autumn if not Winter truly arrived over the weekend and having got very cold through inadequate layers on the Saturday I didn’t make it for the first of 2 games on the day.  I arrived in plenty of time for the main event, Saracens v Gloucester (in effect).

Saracens had only lost one match so far in the season, losing a tight affair by 3 points.  Women’s rugby has changed before recognition in the last few years, I was very pleasantly surprised by the skill on show during this match.

It looked like Saracens were going to run away with the game when they scored 2 early tries, with Lotte Clapp and Vicky Fleetwood crossing the line, Georgie Lingham added a third try to put Saracens up 15 nil.  It looked like this might be a one sided affair, but Gloucester pulled a try back.  Apologies to the try scorer, her name isn’t to be found online, it was a great try!  Lingham added a second before half time.

Sarah McKenna had made Lingham’s second try and she got over the line herself early in the second half.  Gloucester scored 2 tries of their own, again scored by un-named players to get themselves within 10 points.  But tries from Hannah Botterman, Marlie Packer and May Campbell gave the home team a resounding victory.  The final result was Saracens 48 Gloucester 24.

I thoroughly enjoyed the match, it deserved more of a crowd, there were some very good rugby players on that pitch!  I’ve since bought myself a ticket for the England v USA match at Allianz Park on November 9th.  At £10 it’s a complete bargain!