Sandbadgers dominate Cavan

On Sunday City of Derry Ladies travelled to Cavan for their second match in the league section of the Ulster Cup.

Due to the severe snow & ice conditions on Saturday night a number of the team, who live in rural areas, were unable to travel. Even the coach had to be towed twice just to get to the meeting point!

The 13 players took the field against their full strength opponents and emerged victorious in a 7 try 46 – 0 route, securing a bonus point in the process by scoring more than 4 tries, in what is easily the performance of the season.

From the kick off Derry had their opponents under pressure. The rucking and mauling of the 6 Derry forwards against the Cavan 8 was impressive. Following 3 successive rucks the ball was move swiftly to the backs. No 8 Di Nixon made a good break and fed hooker Grainne Crabtree. Grainne showed her handling skills to put winger Alana McCaffrey in the clear and the winger sprinted in for a try to give the girls a 5-0 lead after 13 minutes.

Derry continued to dominate and the Cavan team only had occasional forays into Derry territory which were quickly stopped by great defensive tackling by both backs and forwards.

After 28 minutes further Derry pressure lead to a penalty fifteen metres from the Cavan line. Outhalf Racheal Lennox stepped up to convert and the girls lead 8-0.

Derry No 8 Diane caught the restart kick and ran at the Cavan defence. Following 5 phases of play where the forwards led by Grainne, Lizzie & Elena outrucked their heavier opponents, the ball was passed swiftly across the backline & Diane drew the defence to put Alana in for her 2nd try on 30 minutes. The conversion was missed but Derry took a 13-0 lead into the half time interval.

From the half time restart the Cavan fullback knocked on to set up a scrum. Derry continued to dominate and exert pressure and were rarely out of the Cavan ‘22’

Following a good driving run by Grainne, who was stopped just short of the try line, the pack set up good ball and prop Lizzie Ballantine crashed over for a try which was converted by Lennox to put Derry further in front 20-0.

The bonus point try came 14 minutes into the half when following a ruck Lizzie scored her 2nd try which Rachael again converted. 27-0. Derry were quickly back pressurising the Cavan line. From a 5 meter scrum No 8 Diane picked up and broke through 3 tackles to score beside the posts to make the conversion a formality for Lennox. 34-0

Straight from the kick off Rachael kicked the ball deepin to the Cavan ‘22’. Good chasing by Alana pressurise the Cavan defence into conceding a line out. Quick thinking by Lizzie saw her take a quick throw to Rachael who scored in the corner.

The final try came from another solid scrum 5 meters out. No 8 Diane picked and fed scrumhalf Noreen Nethercott. Noreen showed her power and pace to beat 3 defenders to score a fine try. Rachael again converted giving her a personal tally of 16 points in a convincing 46-0 win.

This was a superb performance by everyone involved. The commitment, attitude and determination throughout was outstanding. The girls never lost concentration or focus, the discipline and support for each other was outstanding.

The Derry girls played ‘no numbers rugby’ where forwards ran & passed like backs and the backs showed they can handle themselves in the rucks & mauls. In the pack strong driving runs by, Grainne, Elena, Lizzie and Diane were well supported by Gemma & Megan.

The backline were rock solid in defence tackling superbly and although it’s hard to single anyone out inside centre Kelly Holmes’ tackling was immense.

The referee and a number of Cavan supporters commented on the fact that this Derry team are a well drilled outfit with great handling skills. Cavan will not be looking forward to a full strength Derry team returning in 2 weeks for an AIL match.