Keswick Falcons 34 Ryton Roses 12
Davidson Park was set for a grand day of rugby as the formidable Falcons looked to keep their winning streak alive on a crisp and sunny Sunday. Ryton travelled in strength across to Keswick having a rocky start in the league against Workington and looking for their first win of the season.
Keswick’s Lucy King kicked off the game with forwards chasing to restrict the Ryton offence. Keswick immediately won a penalty from the first tackle at the ruck and took some further yards with a line-out. The ball was won and thrown wide to the wing catching Ryton on the back foot, and in the opening minutes of the game another penalty was gifted for an offside, quickly taken by Lucy over the try line with several Ryton players clinging on.
The home side showed much better defensive and supporting lines over their last few games, displaying improvement week on week. Ryton piled the pressure on for 15 minutes into the home side’s half coming dangerously close to scoring.
The ball won back was cleverly kicked back up the pitch once Keswick were back in possession to keep the Roses as far away as possible from the try line. From here Keswick would search to win back possession and slowly wear the visitors down for a counter attack. A change of personnel by Keswick positioned Cheska Horsburgh at number 8 and she injected the go forward needed from a line-out to dismantle the defence and provide some quick ball to Lilly Hodgson who was gifted plenty of space out wide to score in the corner. Cheska would go on to earn her forward of the match status which was well deserved.
The Falcons set piece at the scrum and line-out was well contested and worked very well for Keswick who came out on top in most providing a vital component to their attacking patterns. From one scrum, following on closely from the second try, the Falcons distributed the ball out to full-back Vicky Mitchell and then a well-timed loop by fly half Katie Pepper, back of the match, darted between defenders narrowly breaking free to score. Keswick were comfortably 15-0 up at the break but still had to hold on to claim a bonus point seeking another try.
To make things interesting Ryton would respond straight off the mark by means of their rapid centre beating the Falcons at pace to claim their first set of points and conversion. This reminded Keswick that the match would not be easy and they would have to be switched on constantly until the 80 minutes was up.
Like the first half there was a bit of back and forth with both teams playing great rugby and no score for another 15 minutes. Eventually one defence had to give and again Keswick did well to work the ball wide to spread the defensive line and work the ball back to the other side for Lilly to find some space for her second try, successfully converted by Vicky Mitchell.
Ryton weren’t finished and again battled their way back into the home half to release their nippy centre giving them their final score.
In response Keswick once again released their backs who were well positioned at depth for Vick to gain some more points on her tally which will help Keswick in the league standings overall.
For the Falcons’ final try Lilly would complete her hat-trick once Mag Todd stole the ball from the ruck and some quick thinking to switch Keswick from their defensive mode to attack surprised Ryton and in a flash the try was scored and converted.
Keswick move to the top of the league table and will need to work extra hard to remain there if they wish to do so. They are rewarded a break for their efforts with no match this weekend.
The fun resumes in the second round of the Women’s Junior Cup against Upper Eden after knocking Workington out in the opening round.
