Sadly the Wrenegades lost the game 18:22 with an equalizing try for the home side being chalked off after intervention by the touch judge on the last play of the match. A nervy start from both sides saw possession being lost in a succession of scrums however the Wrenegades settled the better early on. Good approach work on the right with good hands shipping the ball cross field to Adrienne Baker who crashed through the cover to touch down left of the posts, converted by Hannah Parkinson moved her team into a 6:0 lead. The game was disrupted by a series of injuries which required treatment, whilst breaking the flow of the game player safety always comes first on every occasion thankfully no serious injuries were sustained. The RN were playing some wonderful Rugby stretching their lead on 18 minutes, right wing Molly Ellis gathered a loose ball on the 30m line and sprinted 50 m before being hauled down by the desperate defenders, from the play the ball RNRL moved the attack once again across midfield and to Elona Bythell who broke the defensive line to touch down, 10:0. A flurry of scores in the last ten minutes of half brought the crowd to their feet, RNRL went over first, Jessica Shaw getting the score to move her side 14:0 ahead. The RAF then hit back with two tries of their own before the break, skipper Burnett powering over for the try converted by Grundy 14:6. Almost from the restart the visitors were in again, this time McCabe cut back inside from the wing wrong footing the RN defence to score, no conversion so at the break it was 14:10. Into he second half and the RAF carried on where they left off bagging 2 converted tries in the third quarter to move out to a 14:22 lead. RN Coach Matt Bayliss has built in a resilience t this side and this was evident in the last 20, not only did the Wrenegades prevent the RAF scoring again but Laika Swain bagged her sides 4th try of the game to close the gap to just 4 points. The clock was running down to full time and the home side were no on the front foot pushing for at least an equalizing score. Amazingly it seemed to be all on another great move appeared to be rewarded with a try to level up the scores, however, the touch judge came on and after words with the Referee the score was chalked off and the whistle was blown to end the game. Arguably the best performance from the Wrenegades for many years ended in heartbreak for Matt Bayliss’ players with the final score being 18:22
BFBS streamed the game live with highlights footage at
https://www.forcesnews.com/sport/rugby-league/royal-air-force-narrowly-scrapes-win-over-royal-navy-womens-inter-services-rugby
The full game is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLMfgRzymU