Rugby Union is one of the most popular events in the Varsity series and never fails to provide an exciting game. The Green and Gold haven’t won the men’s fixture since 2013, but have been so close in series past. They were looking to change the trend of late, but it wasn’t to be.
After a close start to the game, Trent broke the deadlock after 15 minutes, converting their try to make it 0-7. The Green and Gold pegged it back, and by 22 minutes the score line was back on level pegging at 7-7. Just before half time the Green and Gold capitalised on their penalty to take it to 10-7. The lads went into half time confident, but knew it would be a tough second half.
“With ten minutes to go we dug deep and scored a try to get right back in it”
The opposition came flying out the traps and scored a try and a conversion to take it to 10-14. However, we bit back and made it 13-14 after a drop goal. Trent seemed to pull away from us, scoring a try and a penalty to take the score up to 13-22. But, with ten minutes to go, we dug deep and scored a try to get right back in it, the score on the board reading 20-22. It just wasn’t to be our day though, as Trent piled on the pressure towards the end of the match and the final whistle blowing with us still trailing by two points.
Both sides were in the game right until the end but Trent had that extra edge to see out their lead and turn it into their sixth consecutive victory of the fixture. Still, the Sunday afternoon at Lady Bay wasn’t over yet as the women prepared to start their claim for an all desired Varsity point.
“Trent had no response to our impeccable performance”
The squad started as they meant to go on, scoring a try within two minutes. By the 23rd minute it was 24-0 and Trent had no response to our impeccable performance. However, they did score a try in the 28th minute to make it 24-5 and put themselves back in the game. This didn’t phase our girls though, who kept going until the final whistle of the first half, the first 40 minutes finishing with a score line of 48-5.
If you thought the first half was good, the second was unbelievable. It was an absolute whitewash and started exactly the same way as the first 40 minutes did, a try for the Green and Gold within two minutes. From then on we couldn’t be stopped, and with basically a try every five minutes, the girls were on fire. The 80th minute arrived and the game finished an astonishing 96-5.
WINNERS ???? 5-96!!!
— UoN Women's Rugby (@UoNWRFC) March 31, 2019
The girls tore up the park and lifted the mood after the closeness of the men’s match and the agony at their defeat. Whilst the day ended up being bittersweet, the women’s triumph saw us finish the first full week of Varsity fixtures with an edge on the competition, as on Sunday the overall score stood at 4-3.
The stellar performance from both sides was a testament to our sporting program, but also to the prestigious nature of the Varsity series. It’s still so close and the Green and Gold need all the support they can get if they’re going to take this lead all the way and win the series once more. Left to play is Ice Hockey, Football, Lacrosse, American Football and Cricket, so go and show your support and get the Green and Gold over the line once more!
Zoe Burgess
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Featured image courtesy of @UoNWRFC via Twitter.
