Wedstrijdverslag 12 februari 2023 Dames XV

Match Report LSRG Dames 1 a.k.a. ‘Het vlaggenschip’ (see: youtube link, 51:38) vs. URC

On a slightly grey morning, the ladies gathered to first watch a bit of the 2XV’s game
because of Super Sunday. Unfortunately, the 1XV’s opponent canceled and there were two instead of three games at ‘t Palenpadje, but that didn’t keep the zijlijngezelschap away. They were in big numbers, also growing our trip budget by buying Tombola tickets and buying goods at the bake sale. The mood was well and relaxed but we still anticipated a hard game against the URC ladies, who used to play in the Ereklasse. For those who feel very sad that they were not there to watch the game, good news for you. The game has been recorded, including beautiful commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgpHk8TZL30. We added the tijdstippen of the highlights in the report.

As the opponent only had 13 players, we lent one of our promising ladies, Isi, to the
opponent (and later on, Leo, Mip and Fred wore their blue and red stripes too) and the game started off. In the first few minutes of the game we received a penalty, zig-zag-Zoë made a break and gave an offload to Anso, who scored the first try and added the conversion (0:54). It was a strong beginning of the game. However, heavy attacks forced our defense to stay TOIGHT and made it a very, very physical game. We also noticed that these ladies had a different style of attack than we saw from previous opponents. As said before, Urc used to play Ereklasse and did not hesitate to kick during the open play.

It was Isi who scored the first try for the Utrecht ladies (6:50) which altogether resulted in a very positive vibe on the pitch. We were proud of our Isi, they were proud of her too and complemented her sportsmanship by also making her woman of the Match. After a second try by Urc, the score was 7-12 (12:50). After a very strong first quarter that she had played for Urc, Isi had to step out of the game because of a wound on her head. We kept our focus and although Urc had a strong defense, it was Lotte who scored the second try (28:56). We were playing a very strong game and after a line-out and some rucks, it was Zoë who added 7 points to the score by scoring a try and conversion (33:45). After a beautiful interception by
Anso she made her second try in this game (41:32). I can’t agree more with the commentary after that try: “Ze spelen echt vet goed joh”’. After a very long first half (approximately 50 min) the score was 26-12.

During the second half we had to stay sharp as well, because the ladies came dangerously close to scoring more tries, two of which were held up and one was disallowed. We worked our asses off, spending most of the time on the opponent’s half of the pitch. Unlike Urc we did manage to add some points to the score. First it was Zoë who scored a penalty kick (46:28), and after a mispass from Helena to Sanne, Sanne passed the ball to Pau who scored the last try of the game (51:16). Urc was still very strong in the rucks and after they cleared another one, Kim and Lotte had to hop off the pitch because of some injuries. It was a very physical and tough game, but mostly very nice and it resulted in the ladies winning 34-12. We look forward to facing the ladies from URC again!

Woman of the Match on our side was Loes, for putting in so much work and making a few beautiful carries. The Vajayjay was, by her own request, Annie because she wanted to stuff it with vegan snacks which makes the writer of this report wonder if Ice is vegan…