Workington Finches are still looking for their first win of the new season in the NC1.
They travelled to Lancaster University to take on the Lionesses and went under 31-14.
Finches were awarded the game’s first penalty after three minutes when Lancaster failed to release possession after McAndrew managed to get over the top of the home side,
However the opportunity to build an attack ended when Charlotte Cammack was ruled offside.
The stop start nature of the contest continued when the Finches forced a scrum on halfway.
A couple of phases later the Finches were awarded a penalty for Lancaster coming in at the side – a relief for the hosts were doing most of the attacking.
The game then ebbed and flowed between attack and defence as the conditions began to dictate.
It took half an hour before Lancaster broke the deadlock with some outstanding counter attacking to score a converted try.
From the restart the Finches gained a scrum in the Lancaster 30 metre zone.
Following some clever play from Jenkinson and Stewart the visitors put together a spell of pressure before being awarded a penalty for a high shot.
Despite the Finches sustained pressure the half ended 7-0 to the hosts.
The second half started with a Lancaster knock on following good work from Kelly Manford and much like the start of the game the Finches dominated early possession.
However, after 10 minutes of the second half, the hosts doubled their advantage after a lapse in concentration allowed the Lionesses to break 50 metres and go in for a second converted try.
This didn’t phase the visitors as smart play from Ratcliffe saw the deficit halved to 14-7 in a well worked and deserved converted try.
But Lancaster hit back with a breakaway try on 66 minutes which went unconverted.
With 10 minutes to go Sophie Weir managed to burrow over from close range to take the score to 19-14 and set up a grandstand finish.
However, this was soon dispelled when the Lionesses raced away following the kick-off to score under the posts.
The game was gone for the visitors when the Lionesses turned over possession on halfway to see their fullback race to the line and cut in under the posts. The conversion was successful.
As the last three minutes approached Lancaster were reduced to 14 players following a sin bin for dissent.
But this didn’t prevent them scoring again to close out the game at 36-14 – a rather harsh scoreline on the Finches.
