New season, new league – but the same old victory feeling as Workington Zebra Finches kicked off their new season in North 2 West, writes John Hastings.
It was the perfect start for the Finches with a convincing 52-19 success against Skipton Roses at The Ellis.
What made this victory significant is that Skipton had already played and won both games, while Workington had been left frustrated a fortnight ago when their opening match at Yarnbury was postponed.
The Finches exerted their authority straight from kick-off and aided by a fair wind, they wasted no time in dominating the Skipton half before reaping their reward after just eight minutes as new captain Juliet Porter finished off a finely executed pass and move routine to thrust herself over for an unconverted try.
Porter doubled the lead on 17 minutes as she accepted Charlotte Cammack’s killer pass with relish to power home under the posts before Elsa Whelan delivered a smooth conversion
Whelan was making her comeback in Finches colours for the first time since that May Day victory at Twickenham last year and in addition to kicking duties, she swiftly formed an effective and threatening centre partnership with Lauren Coulson.
Indeed, both Coulson and Whelan played their part in Workington’s third try on 26 minutes as they were heavily involved in the move which subsequently led to Megan Donald sprinting clear from Skipton’s empty grasp to go under the posts herself and Whelan gleefully obliged with another conversion.
After being virtual captives in their own half, Skipton finally began to make serious advances into Finches territory and their determination paid off on 32 minutes when Kimberley Chapman shrugged off uncharacteristic lax marking to power their way over for an unconverted try.
That was just the wake-up sign Workington needed as they regained possession to close out the first half with two more tries
On 36 minutes, Lauren Coulson did a cheeky tap and go that caught the Skipton defence slacking and she sliced through to breeze home under the posts, with Whelan duly completing her hat-trick of conversions.
Then on the stroke of half time, Cammack raced clear and unselfishly offloaded the ball to Danielle Easdon, who went into the corner for the Finches fifth try of the game. Whelan’s conversion heralded the half-time whistle with Workington 33-5 to the good.
It was Skipton’s turn to have the wind behind them for the second half and it only took them four minutes to use this advantage as their eagerness was rewarded when Freya Baggaley carved through the Finches backline to touch down for a second Roses try and converted this time by Stephanie Roe.
For a while, Workington were on the back foot as Skipton continued to look for further scoring opportunities but could not penetrative the wall of orange black.
This resilience enabled the Finches to rebuild and on 52 minutes they increased their lead when Porter, Cammack and Whelan combined to send Meagan McAndrew on her way to make it six of the best, though Whelan was most unlucky to fall short with her conversion.
Skipton refused to buckle and again attacked their hosts with more impressive surges before claiming their third try on the hour following a successful scrum that ended with Georgina Riley crashing down and another conversion by Foe.
The following conversion made it 38-19 with 20 minutes to go, but by this time the wind had dropped and Workington began to step up a gear, determined to clinch victory once and for all – especially with Porter, Whelan, Coulson and Cammack firing on all cylinders.
On 71 minutes, the points were effectively sealed as Porter exploited holes in the now tired and stretched Skipton defence to bullet through and cap her debut as captain with a richly deserved hat-trick, followed by Whelan adding her fifth conversion.
It was Workington who had the last word when further domination in Skipton territory paid off as Stephanie Ratcliffe, Sophie Weir and Porter combined to tee up Rachael Smith who barged mercilessly through to mark her Finches debut with a try under the posts. McAndrew added the conversion and full-time was called.
Despite the convincing scoreline and good all-round performance, there were several niggling glitches that would have gone punished in a close game, but in time these will be eliminated, especially if Workington keep up the winning run.
As well as scoring a hat-trick in her first game as captain, Porter calmly directed proceedings – making her voice heard on occasion as and when required – and was named Finches Back Of The Match.
Stephanie Ratcliffe, in her customary role at scrum half, was always looked dangerous whenever she had ball in hand and was named Opposition Player Of The Match by the Skipton captain.
Having retired as captain after eight years, Lottie Cammack felt like a new player as she embraced the loosehead lock position with devilish pleasure, making her presence felt to any Skipton player that she encountered and although she received a very harsh yellow card, she was named Workington’s Forward Of The Match.
Finally, special mention goes to the two Finches Debutantes – Rachael Smith, whose maiden try rounded off the scoring – and Kerrie Elliott, who came off the bench to stiffen the defensive backline and help close out the game – both will be valued members of the squad as the season moves along.
Workington now have a week’s break before their second league fixture away to York on October 20 and from that opening performance, the Finches’ dream for that elusive league title has got off to a great start.
