Abbey Women delivered an assured and complete team performance to secure a home bonus-point win over visitors Hove in front of a bumper crowd, recording their second win of 2023.
In a game that saw Abbey Women notch up their first 50:22 kick of the season, thanks to the trusty boot of Alice Denton-Rice, there was not a moment where the home side didn’t feel completely in control of the game.
As well as an assured kicking performance, the talismanic Denton-Rice also added a hat-trick of her own to underpin a solid team performance.
Abbey applied pressure from the start, chasing down the kick off and pinning Hove firmly back in their own half. Aggressive defence and a successful tackle completion rate allowed Abbey to control the game patiently, waiting for their first chance to strike.
Abbey’s forward pack were hungry for the ball, with excellent carries from the front rowers Jess Potter, Claire Stevens and Hannah Gale driving closer to the line.
Unfortunately, Abbey could not convert the pressure into points until the fifteenth minute, when, after a series of excellent forward carries, fullback Lou Pullan released Alice Denton-Rice, who showed immense strength to power over the line.
Busy flanker Andrea Barker successfully regathered the restart on the run and the home side were in hot pursuit of the line again.
Before long, they were in Hove’s 22 again looking for a second-try. An excellent driving maul, commanded by the influential Joey Fowler, brought Abbey to within metres of the line.
Abbey’s back line, who were having a successful day at the office with their set piece plays, moved play one way, before scrum-half Ellie Denton-Rice swung play back round to the left, the ball eventually finding Hannah Skeels who crossed the whitewash for her maiden try not only this season, but her first at first-team level..
Hove responded well however, and it was after this score that they enjoyed their first foray into Abbey’s half. A series of penalties allowed their fly-half Abi Martin to gain the visitors some crucial territory, as well as seeing Alice Denton-Rice sent to the bin for ten minutes for a high tackle.
However, even with reduced numbers, Abbey defended well and kept them at bay, intelligently folding around the ruck and containing Hove’s advances. It was after a smart turnover from Fowler that enabled the returning Alice Denton-Rice to execute her first 50:22 of the season, much to the home crowd’s delight.
Although Abbey did not capitalise from the subsequent lineout, continued pressure in the right areas of the pitch eventually saw the ball back on their side.
After some excellent forward carries, led by the ever-present Annabel Hawkins, the ball was distributed wide by Skeels to her opposite winger Jess Williams, who crossed for an easy score.
The second half brought much more of the same confident play that the team were clearly starting to enjoy.
Hungry for the bonus point, it was secured in style when, after another superb driving maul from the pack, the backs executed well with hard-hitting centres Denton-Rice and Jess Gundry running some excellent lines to allow Annette Bevan to escape out of the back and wheel in for the bonus-point try.
With their tails now up, Abbey continued to contain Hove for long passages of play with thumping tackles from Tori Kiff and replacements Fern Edgar and Clara Reynolds. It wasn’t long before Abbey were back in the Hove 22 and Alice Denton-Rice ran a pin-point perfect line off Bevan to score underneath the posts – her side’s fifth.
Credit must go to Hove as they continued to compete, pressuring Abbey’s front row at the scrum, who adapted and evolved magnificently to everything Hove threw at them.
Abbey were eventually penalised for going off their feet at a ruck. Hove reacted quicker, and worked the ball wide to their threatening fullback Gemma Matthews, who broke the line, not for the first time in the match.
Flanked by her fellow backs, they ran from their 22 and despite desperate tackle attempts from Pullan, Reynolds and Bevan, their centre Emily Hird crossed for a deserved team try.
Abbey wanted to finish the game on their own terms, however, and at the final scrum, which was the last legal play of the match, captain Hawkins picked off the base to set up a platform for her team.
Once again, the Abbey pack, bolstered by the arrival of Katie Vinnac, hammered the Hove line, until Bevan demanded the ball, seeking out the sure hands of Alice Denton-Rice, who notched up her hat-trick try.
It was a complete team performance from one to nineteen, with impact players bringing fresh energy to a team who were already playing unselfishly and for each other.
By Annette Tomas
