Cumbria Women are through to the semi-final of the Gill Burns County Championship after a big win over Oxfordshire.
The Cumbrians, despite a significant number of changes, had the game won at half-time with a 46-0 lead and they went on to finish ahead 81-10.
They have been drawn away to the winners of pool 3 which is being hotly contested by Sussex, Middlesex and Essex so whoever comes out on top Cumbria are going to have a long trip ahead of them.
One things for certain, however, is that with eight new caps on display against Oxfordshire it showed the strength in depth the squad has.
It will give the coaches some definite selection headaches and strong competition for places when the semi final is played as they welcome back 13 players from Keswick who were unavailable on Sunday due to playing in their cup final at Coventry.
Keswick had led 29-0 at half-time after being helped by the wind but in what was a definite game of two halves Beckenham came back to win 34-29, scoring the winning points in the last minute.
At Wigton, though, Cumbria were in complete command virtually throughout although the visitors deserved a lot of credit for sticking with it and for a particularly good spell when they scored their first try in the second-half.
Cumbria had made a flying start when captain Hannah Sherlock burst the line in the first minute and burst the line to go from half-way to score and settle the nerves.
With the wind behind them Cumbria kept pressing and strong forward carries from Vanessa Hagen, Anna King and Hailey Coutts saw the Oxfordshire defence squeezed. It produced two quick tries each for wingers Lexi Hodgson and Lauren Oates after the ball was quickly swung along the back line.
The next to cross was fly half Sarah Smyth who cut the Oxfordshire line open to sail in untouched under the posts, converting her own try which meant Cumbria led 34-0 with 15 minutes still to play until the break.
Straight from the kick off Cumbria rallied again building phases which Oxfordshire could not contain. Co-captain Anna King crashed over from a short carry and the conversion was again slotted by Smyth.
Three minutes before half time another burst of powerful running from the pack resulted in the ball being thrown down the line to the supporting full-back Meagan McAndrew who scored in the wider channel for an unconverted try.
At the turnaround Cumbria knew the wind could certainly change the trajectory of the ball and therefore the second half would be different.
A number of infringements saw an accumulative yellow awarded to back row Hagen swiftly followed by a second for captain Sherlock for a high tackle.
It wasn’t long until Oxfordshire got a foothold in the game and exploited the mismatch of numbers to cross for their first try from Daisy Andrews following sustained pressure in the Cumbria 22.
It was a shaky time for Cumbria as Oxfordshire started to grow into the game and use the wind to their advantage.
Cumbria managed to steady the ship and get going again as fly half Smyth crossed after another elusive run saw the defence part in front of her to sail through again untouched to score under the posts. She added the conversion to take Cumbria past the half century mark.
In the next five minutes Cumbria regained full control. Replacement winger Emma Kellett scored an excellent try, skating down the touchline from the 10 metre line to beat a number of defenders in very little space to run it in under the posts. Smyth converted.
A raft of changes to get members of the bench into the game meant Cumbria took a while to settle into their rhythm again. It took another 12 minutes for the whitewash to be crossed.
This time wing Hodgson bagged her hat-trick try with a brilliant break down the left hand side to beat a number of covering players to dot down, Smyth’s conversion took the lead out to 67-5.
More phases and pressure, followed by a break from midfield by Sherlock saw her swerve the full-back and hand-off the covering winger to score her second of the match with the conversion added by Smyth.
However, one thing Oxfordshire did not do was let their heads drop and when they managed to gain some much needed possession and territory they were rewarded.
Further Cumbrian ill-discipline saw a succession of penalties where the Oxfordshire player Heather Noble crossed through a disorganised defence.
It was a consolation try for Oxfordshire but thoroughly deserved for the heart they showed.
This spurred the visitors on hoping for a bonus point and when they kicked long an awkward bounce put full-back McAndrew in trouble.
However, through fleet of foot she managed to get free from the chasing pack to give the ball to winger Hodgson under her own posts and she outstripped the defensive line in front of her.
She finished by cutting through the covering defence to run in a full length of the field try. It was an outstanding finish and performance with the conversion by Smyth the last points of the game.
Hear coach Ally Ratcliffe’s views below:
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