Ladies Cup game V Peterlee and Horden Valkyries

Sunday saw Southport Ladies make the arduous trip to Peterlee and Horden Valkyries for the quarter final of the Intermediate Plate competition. With a home fixture for the semi-final and the opportunity to play at Twickenham in the final, Port ladies were itching to take the win. However, Peterlee proved to be a most physical and well drilled team and Port had a fight on their hands.
From the outset, Peterlee carried hard and within the first 5 minutes crossed the whitewash. With the conversion missed they took the lead 5-0. A wake up call for Port and they began to piece some phases of play together with some big carries by prop Meath and some great line breaks by flanker Littlewood. With the penalty count high by both teams, scrummaging was the order of the day and some good picks by Number 8 Welsh, allowed Port to make ground on the attack. Strong tackling by hooker Simpson and some quality turnovers at the ruck by flanker McKeown kept Peterlee at bay and when the forwards began to dominate, flanker Littlewood powered over to even up the score. The conversion by Prior taking Port into the lead. A great break by scrum half Mooney into the Peterlee 22 gave Port the opportunity to extend their lead but Peterlee where quick to shut down Port's plans and with half time approaching, a knock on on the 10m line drew the half time whistle. Score 5-7.

The second half continued in much the same vein as both teams played hard for the win and it would be Peterlee who would score next after a clean take and break by their full back, deceiving the Port defence and running in the try. The conversion missed - Score 10-7. With Port all at sea, it wasn't long before Peterlee extended their lead after a neat little move off the back of one of the many scrums, running in for their 3rd try. Score 15-7. Some stern words by Captain Walton and Port started to pull it together. With another scrum to Port, some clean play from the backs off the solid base of the forwards, winger Jessop made a strong run to score in the corner. The angle too wide for the conversion. Score 15-12.
From the restart Peterlee won the scrum for a knock on and with a penalty awarded off the back of that, a quick tap and go saw them run in the try and convert. Score 22-12. With time against them, Port were on the back foot but with some strong carries and good support play they were awarded the penalty on the 5m line. Quickly taken and some slick hands, the ball found winger Jessop to run in her 2nd try of the game. The conversion was missed. Score 22-17. With only 5 minutes left, Port were desperately holding Peterlee at bay and just when the Port won the ball, Peterlee made the tackle into touch and the full time whistle blew. Final score 22-17.

A long and tough day at the office for Southport but with so many positives to take and negatives to work on, the ladies are confident of a good result when they welcome Kendall Wasps to Waterloo road next sunday.