Cockermouth Rugby Club hosted a women and girl’s touch rugby festival at the weekend.
After a minute’s silence to recognise the recent tragic events at Kendal Rugby Club, they started off against Wigton and a combination of a sluggish start for Cockermouth and quick passing and off loading from Wigton led to good win for Wigton.
Cockermouth bounced back against Silloth with a much improved performance with better handling and support play leading to tries and pressure forcing handovers in defence.
After a quick turnaround, next up were league leaders Arlecdon.
Cockermouth worked hard in defence and attack scoring tries later in the game.
However Arlecdon finished the victors after their earlier tries had come from good interplay and poaching on passes out wide to intercept.
Cockermouth looked to finish on a positive and did that with a fine victory against Keswick.
Learning from the earlier games, quick passing got the ball to our quicker players on the wing to either make breaks or score the tries themselves.
All the players worked hard in warm humid conditions, and sometimes had to adapt to new positions as we looked to give all players game time.
Notable performances on the day came from Jessica Jonker for her long range interception tries, Abi Jonker for her swift breaks and support from the wing.
The senior player of the festival Jo Hedley again ran hard making breaks in attack and tracking back in defence to stop line breaks turning into tries.
A club spokesman said: “On International Women’s Day, all the teams showed a busy club, that the women’s touch rugby game is growing in Cumbria and how the increasing pace of the game is backed up with excellent skills.
“Thanks to the referees and club volunteers whose time we rely to make these days enjoyable for everyone. We look forward to the next festival at Keswick.”
