Hammers Women’s 1xv pull-off massive win!

What a game. What a day. Read on for all the excitement.

It was a cold day in Southwest London as the 1XV turned up to face top of the table Battersea Ironsides. Due to poor weather in 2022, this was the first time the sides were facing each other this season so there was an element of the unknown for both teams. Hammers were feeling positive after the strong win against Medway but knew we needed to bring our best against the current best in the league.

The 1st half set the tone from kick off with hard carries and tackles bringing the intensity from both teams. The first 20 mins were a bit of an arm wrestle with Hammers firmly camped in the Battersea half but unable to convert and Battersea unable to make much progress. Eventually Battersea started to lose some composure and penalties allowed Hammers to make progress closer to the line.

Another penalty on the five metre allowed Georgie to make a classic front row try with a hard, low carry to land the ball ‘just’ on the line. Conversion from Alex made it 7-0. The rest of the first half remained tight with possession changing fairly frequently. The other dramatic moment of the half was Tappers managing to get herself Dick of the Day by attempting to clear the ball out of the Hammers 22 with a fairly dodgy kick, despite the fact that Alex was waiting behind to clear. Half time score 7-0.

Hammers came out aggressive again in the 2nd half, kicking off and chasing Battersea down. We kept them pinned in their half again and turned the ball over to give ourselves a great platform to attack. A strong scrum kept their forwards penned in so we could send the backs into space. Great ball distribution saw Miyen score in the corner in her first outing for the 1XV. Alex kicked an excellent conversion to make it 0-14. Battersea weren’t going to be kept out of the game for long however, and as a few mistakes creeped into the Hammers game, Battersea moved up the pitch. A couple of penalties gave them solid field position and despite a good defensive effort, their centre eventually cut through to score under the posts. 7-14.

Encouraged by this Battersea took it to Hammers, forcing Hammers to put on a epic defensive effort to hold them out and turn the ball over. Hammers went straight back at them – pulling the forwards in with multiple phases of hard carries before the backs looked to move it around. A couple of lovely cross-field kicks from Alex nearly paid off, before she decided to just go herself and stepped through the stretched Battersea defence to score. Converting her own kick made the final score 7-21.

Forward of the match – Ellie H-P

Back of the match – Alex W

DoD – Tappers