Workington Zebra Finches delivered their third victory of the season when they overcame Old Brodleains 48-10 on an emotional day at the Ellis, writes John Hastings.
This was the sixth annual game dedicated to the memory of former Finches player Nicola Wilson, who died in 2018 and before kick-off, both teams stood together for an impeccably observed minute’s silence.
It was the Finches who looked most likely to open the scoring, and they did just that on seven minutes when a quickly taken kick ended with Lottie Cammack crashing down into the corner for Workington’s first try, which went unconverted.
Then four minutes later, Megan Donald cleverly intercepted a stray pass from just inside her own half, before proceeding to sprint away unopposed to touch down under the posts and set up an easy conversion for Elsa Whelan.
On 20 minutes , Donald helped herself to a second try and Workington’s third of the afternoon when she polished off a smartly delivered pass and move routine. However, no conversion followed this time round.
To their credit, Old Brodleains gradually recovered from this initial onslaught and conducted a few impressive surges into Finches territory but could not find any way through the cast-iron clad Workington defence.
Then on 26 minutes they were punished when a loose ball from the line out eventually came to Danielle Easdon before she ploughed her way through for her second try in as many games. Once again, no conversion was made but the lead increased to 22-0.
However, Workington suddenly found themselves under the cosh as the visitors from Halifax began to frustrate their opponents with some defence whilst at the same time delivering more creative attacking inroads.
Five minutes before half-time the visitors came agonizingly close to scoring their first try as they finally reached touching distance of the tryline. However, Rachael Wood made a last-ditch tackle and Workington’s clean sheet remained intact at half time.
Barely a minute of the second half had elapsed when Old Brodleains eventually scored their first try following a spectacular 70-yard solo run and finish under the posts for an unconverted try.
Workington were clearly frustrated at losing their clean sheet and Old Brodleains seized the initiative with more impressive attacking surges, but they were unable to turn this into more tries as the Finches regained their composure with more resolute defending.
Then on the hour mark, any lingering hopes of an unlikely victory were brutally extinguished by Workington as they effectively wrapped up the game when a driving run by Cammack was followed by a swift exchange of passes and then finally Beth Sunderland touched down for her first try of the season and Whelan made it a hat-trick of conversions.
With only pride to play for, Old Brodleains managed to double their points total with an unconverted try on 63 minutes after taking advantage of uncharacteristic Finches slack marking.
But Workington were determined to have the last word and two tries in the last 15 minutes underlined their determination to finish the game off in style.
First, a quick tap and go was finished off by Lauren Coulson and then with two minutes to go, Sally Fenwick was thwarted just short of the tryline, but swiftly off-loaded the ball to Porter who wasted no time in adding her second try of the day, followed by a fourth conversion by Whelan.
Once again, this was a brilliant all-round performance by the Finches, with Juliet Porter further stamping her authority as captain and Stacey Carruthers giving the opposition nightmares with her many well drilled attacks on the right with fellow winger Megan Donald doing likewise on the left.
Elsewhere, Lottie Cammack is gradually making the number four shirt her own with another no nonsense turn at lock, and Beth Sunderland displayed her flexibility by producing a solid, tidy and creative performance at openside flanker.
Workington now sit third in League 2 North and we’ll be hoping to maintain their victory momentum next Sunday when they travel to West Yorkshire and take on Old Crossleyans.
