After their two hard earned victories away from home, Workington Zebra Finches finally played their first game at The Ellis this year, writes John Hastings.
Despite the absolutely dreadful weather of squally winds and icy rain, they survived an early scare to defeat a resilient Old Crossleyans 22-12 and maintain their push for the RFU North 2 Championship.
Old Crossleyans deserved total credit for going ahead with the near three-hour, 160-mile trip to Workington and any sign of travel lag were swiftly expunged as they dominated from kick off before breaking the deadlock after only seven minutes when sloppy Finches handling was punished with a magnificent solo sprint and finish, followed by the conversion.
Workington were clearly shaken up by falling behind so early and wasted no time in working their way into the match, despite playing into the wind and their reward came on 11 minutes as Lauren Coulson marked her return to centre when she polished off a fine attacking surge to go into the corner for an unconverted try.
Eight minutes later, after more domination, the Finches extended their lead when Coulson deftly pickpocketed the visitors’ defence to breeze home for her second try of the afternoon and sixth of the season. This time round, Stacey Carruthers calmly added the extra two points
Despite having the wind advantage Old Crossleyans couldn’t follow up their fine attacking sprees by delivering the clinical breakthrough, mostly through resolute Finches defence, but also through wayward passes and sloppy handling.
Then just before half time, Workington made it a 10-point lead with Beth Sunderland first on cue to snaffle the ball from scrum before crashing down in the corner for Finches’ third try of the afternoon, however the poor conditions meant no conversion was possible.
Old Crossleyans began the second half the more livelier, in spite of conceding the wind and after absorbing Workington’s attacks, began to make inroads of their own and on 53 minutes caught their hosts on the hop and race home for their second try, which went unconverted.
The score now was 17 – 12 and the match was tentatively balanced as both sides defied the worsening conditions and churned up pitch to grab outright victory, even if it meant going through scrums and line outs rather than attacking play.
Beth Adams was having a fantastic return to Number 8, with her pinpoint, no-nonsense tackling matched only by accurate midfield carrying and she played a major part in the try that clinched Workington’s victory with two minutes remaining when she nonchalantly ploughed her way through a tired defence to score the try which wrapped up victory and four valuable points for Workington, with the missed conversion being irrelevant.
Once again, it was another all-round performance from the Finches, especially from Lauren Coulson, Beth Adams and Stacey Carruthers, who filled in admirably at right wind and delivered several interesting attacks that put Old Crossleyans on the back foot.
So another hard grafting victory keeps Workington second in RFU League Two North, five points behind Lancaster Lionesses but crucially with a game in hand.
This Sunday, Workington continue their defence of the RFU Community Plate when they travel again to West Yorkshire for their quarter final encounter at Yarnbury.
