Workington Zebra Finches weathered the wind, rain and a valiant Upper Eden Eagles side to come from behind and pull off a late 22-15 victory at picturesque Pennine Park, writes John Hastings.
On their last visit here, Workington coasted home 34-0, but this was a completely different Upper Eden side and it showed in the opening 20 minutes as the hosts made themselves comfortable in Finches territory with regular attacks and efficient scrummaging.
But for all their dominance, the Eagles couldn’t pick the lock of an entrenched Workington defensive and as they began to retreat, it was the Finches turn to make inroads of their own, especially from Megan Donald, Caitlin Jenkinson, Nicole Stewart and Stephanie Ratcliffe.
But Upper Eden were just as resilient in their shutdowns and the shadow of a scoreless first half began to loom until a frenetic last five minutes or so. The Eagles were awarded a penalty and the three points were duly secured by Lucy Branthwaite.
Workington wasted no time in their response as they hit back and on 38 minutes a well-crafted movement was rounded off by Rachael Wood, who ploughed home for an unconverted try.
With the game now entering stoppage time, the Eagles gambled on all-out attacking order to regain the lead and it paid off on the stroke of half time when Branthwaite caught the Finches off-guard to race home for their own unconverted try.
That sucker punch seemed to prey on Workington’s mind as the second half kicked off and they appeared slightly subdued.
They were punished on 45 minutes when a wayward pass was intercepted by Breanne Kelso, who scorched home unopposed for a brilliant solo try under the posts to set up an easy conversion for Branthwaite.
At 15- 5 down, the Finches needed to arrest the situation and it only took them two minutes to do that when Donald finished off another finely drilled attack to go into the corner for a try and with Stewart’s conversion, the deficit was reduced to only three points.
A lengthy period of containment followed as both sides cancelled each other out with resolute defence and doughty scrummaging.
For the Finches, the front row trinity of Rose Cleaton, Sophie Bowness and Laura Southam were ever alert in line outs and scrums while the tireless Beth Sunderland was here, there and everywhere like a Duracell bunny and Beth Adams showed off her flexibility with a smooth, confident performance at blindside flanker.
Having soaked up the opposition’s pressure, Workington proceeded to swamp their opponents’ half and on 67 minutes a successful scrum saw captain Charlotte Cammack offload the ball to Sunderland, who elegantly pirouetted before touching down and despite another missed conversion, the Finches were back in the lead.
A few Upper Eden heads began to drop, tiredness began to creep in and Workington showed all their experience to ruthlessly take advantage. Three minutes from time Danielle Easdon galloped away before unselfishly offloading for Donald to seal the deal with her second try of the afternoon.
The conversion was missed, but this was academic as Workington closed out the game and the final whistle brought loud cheers of joy and relief at securing maximum points.
Full credit must be go to Upper Eden for their part in a memorable encounter and suffice to say, revenge will be on their mind when they visit The Ellis next year on 18th February.
Once again, the Finches delivered a superb all-round performance as well as displaying what is now known as The Twickenham Spirit – ie, clawing back deficits by wearing down the opposition with merciless efficiency, and a spoonful or two of style thrown in.
Workington remain 2nd in the RFU North League 2, but only four points behind unbeaten Keswick Falcons – and both sides meet at the The Ellis on 3rd December for what promises to be a highly charged clash.
Before that, however, the defence of the RFU Junior Plate takes priority next Sunday as Workington take on Northallerton at The Ellis.
