
It’s now five league wins in a row and still unbeaten this year for Workington Zebra Finches as they edged home 27-17 against Bury in a tough encounter at The Ellis.
While Workington will be disappointed about conceding three tries, they can take pride on maintaining their winning streak and they go into their final home game against unbeaten champions Southport on April 24 with great confidence.
Workington got off to a cracking start inside three minutes when Grace Weston got on the end of a pass and her burst of pace left Bury flat-footed as she cruised home unchallenged to open the scoring.
The Finches gradually exerted their authority on proceedings and having twice gone close to increasing their lead, they eventually succeeded on 24 minutes when Beth Adams sliced through the visitors’ defence.
She was able to off-loading the ball to Claire Pooley who instantly found Beth Sunderland and she wasted no time in thrusting herself over the line to clinch her maiden try in Finches colours.
Bury started to tighten up their defence, while at the same time deliver several inroads into Finches territory and four minutes from the break an impressive attack ended with them slipping through to touch down – the first try conceded at The Ellis since last October.
The second half began fairly evenly but it was Workington who struck the first blow on 50 minutes when Weston once again scythed her way through for a second try.
On the hour, the Finches grabbed a fourth try to secure a bonus point when Lauren Coulson gleefully snaffled Sammy-Jo Cole’s pass to go in for her 11th try of the season.
With the score now at 20 – 5 it looked as if Workington were about to romp clear out of sight, but Bury had other ideas.
They managed to stem the onslaught before soaking up the pressure and on 65 minutes delivered excellent scrummaging that led to them scoring in the corner.
After five failed attempts by both sides, this try was finally converted.
An evenly matched period followed in which Workington were determined not to see their lead further eroded while Bury were just as eager to stage an unlikely comeback – inevitably this led to a few stalemate scrums.
With time running out, something had to give and on 78 minutes it was Workington who seized the initiative to wrap-up victory. Cole turned poacher this time round with her second try in as many games.
Having been desperately unlucky with her four previous conversion attempts, Elsa Whelan made it fifth time lucky to the deserved and heartfelt cheers of the Ellis faithful.
But the last word went to Bury in stoppage time as they exploited slack Finches marking to score their third try of the afternoon.
Despite the result, Workington remain below Bury in fifth place in North 2 West, although they do have games in hand.
Once again, it was another all-round team effort with everybody putting in a shift, be it the full 80 minutes or a cameo from the bench.
Sophie Bowness deservedly won Player Of The Match for her no-nonsense efficiency as hooker while special mention goes to Sammy-Jo Cole, whose “C-Force” centre partnership with Lauren Coulson continues to flourish with every game.
Laura Southam also made her presence felt on the pitch with feisty scrummaging and clinical tackling while Beth Adams played at Number 8 like a veteran.