Women's Rugby: Sarah Beaney Cup Qualifier 9-9-17

10/9/2017

Sarah Beaney Cup - North Qualifier
Garioch RFC, Inverurie - Saturday, 9 September 2017

On Saturday the 9th of September the Orkney Rugby Women travelled down to Garioch rugby club to play in their qualifying tournament for the Sarah Beaney cup (women's Scottish cup). This day was for all the teams in the women's north league to compete against each other for one to go through to the first round of the cup.

Shetland couldn't make it down due to travel issues, so it was down to Inverness Craig Dunain, Banff and Orkney to compete for that vital top spot.

The first game of the day saw Orkney up against league rivals Inverness. We knew this would always be a tough battle but the girls were more than up for a challenge. The game kicked off and saw both teams putting in some big hits and keeping the game tight. The longer the game progressed Orkney settled in to it and began to play their phases and stick to a well drilled game plan. Orkney forwards did their job relentlessly and produced the good with break of the side of a ruck by Stacey Tualasea, drifting wide, drawing the winger and popping it out to Orkneys outside centre Amy, to run in the first try of the day. Amy then converted.

From the restart the girls were straight back at them. New star Donna Wilson slotted in at scrum half perfectly and controlled the flow of play. With some fantastic ball retention and forward structure, the ball was passed out to Amy who scored a speedy individual try. Orkney went in at half time 12-0 up.

After half time Inverness started to creep back in to the game with Orkney giving away quite a few penalties around the ruck, however, the women soaked up their pressure well and with some tremendous tackling from Becki Russel and Paige Archibald Inverness began to tire. When Orkney were deep in their own half the did the simple things right and kicking from Amy enabled us to play the game in the opposition half.
Game finished 12-0

The next game saw Orkney against Banff. This game however was void due to Banff not being able to meet minimum requirement of players (12) but a friendly was still played and was a good opportunity for the Orkney team to get some extra game time. Orkney dominated from the first whistle and didn't let up. With 7 first caps starting and first time playing In a competitive game, they showed absolute commitment and played fantastic all day. The team got a chance to re-shuffle and try some people in new positions so it was a good learning experience for all. The game finished 39-5 to Orkney.

Queen of the team for the day Donna Wilson

Orkney will now advance on to the next stage of the cup facing National 2 and club friends Grangemouth Stagettes on the 1st of October. This should be a fantastic and very exciting tie for Orkney and will be a brilliant to gauge where what level the girls are at. Thank you to the big Squad who travelled away.

G.N.