Women’s Team Head Coach Carl Alexis’ Tournament 5 Review 2022

With a month between tournaments we had plenty of time to prepare for the final games of the season. A month to work on securing 3rd place in our division. A month to show the premiership that we were not only here to stay but also a force to be reckoned with.

It was the last tournament for the Prem South and we were looking forward to being its hosts, although with the freak heatwave that was sweeping the country it was touch-and-go as to whether the tournament would actually go ahead. However with the league’s guidelines in place and taking as many precautions as possible we proceeded. 

 

Our first opponents were the London Warriors! Our last outing with them couldn’t have gone much worse as we ended up on the wrong end of a 67-0 score! But we were a different team now, we had grown a lot since then. We knew what to expect and knew what we had to do to change the outcome.

Unfortunately the Warriors had no intention of letting us get our own way and set out to demonstrate this by intercepting a pass on the very first play and returning it for a touchdown.

Everything appeared to be going their way with neither our O nor D able to make the slightest dent in their armour and although we managed to drive into their half we were unable to score. As the temperature rose the clock ticked on and in the blink of an eye it was half time and they were up 34-0!

Coming out after the break we didn’t fare any better as they quickly punched in another TD, but we weren’t ready to roll over just yet and some inspired play calling by Coach Vicki Lucas marched us downfield and an exquisite pass from Karina Vesteng to Sophie Cook put us into the endzone for our first score of the day.

This rejuvenated the team and our Defence stiffened to their onslaught with passes batted down by Caysi Sawyer and Sophie George while our Offence constantly probed for weaknesses in their D. You could see and feel the difference as we held the Warriors to only one more score, whilst our offence continued to grow in confidence. All that work set up our final drive as Karina caught Suzy Millard across the field on a slant route and we all watched as Suzy darted down the entire length of the field for a touchdown. It didn’t really make a difference to the final score of 49-12 but it was a boost for the team. We had scored as many touchdowns as they did in the second half and showed that the Warriors are not invincible and that we ourselves were improving with each game.

 

Game 2 and the chance to secure 3rd place.

Before this year we had never beaten the stallions but now we had an opportunity of beating them twice in one season.

 

Wembley started with the ball but were quickly halted by our ‘on-fire’ defence. This put our O on the field and they set out to stamp their authority on the game. Dropping back on the first play Cleo Farah hooked up with Suzy for a 45 yard touchdown and with the addition of the 2 point conversion we were off to an early 8 point lead.

The Stallions offence seemed rattled and a fumbled ball was quickly pounced upon by Sarah ‘Millsy’ Miller. Gifted with great field position it didn’t take long for rookie RB Deborah ‘Debs’ Ogundijo to score her first ever touchdown.

The Stallions next drive also struggled as constant pressure in their backfield from DL Vic Bell and Amber Dhana prevented any offensive progress and forced a ‘turnover on downs’.

With the game shortened due to the extreme temperature the half time soon came around and saw us with a healthy 14-0 lead.

The start of the second half saw our offence falter a little and a fumbled ball was eagerly recovered by Wembley. The short field proved too much for our D to defend and even with some great tackling by Tara Burgess, Caysi and brand new rookie Carolyn ‘Caz’ Williams (she had only joined us 2 weeks prior!) we were unable to stop them from scoring.

This score was to be the only bright spark for the Stallions as both our O and D stepped up the pace and before long Cleo had launched a deep pass to fellow QB Karina for a 45 yard TD and a comfortable 20-6 lead.

Not to be outdone in style points LB Sophie George on the very next play burst into the Stallions backfield and ripped the ball from the hands of their unsuspecting RB. With this short yardage it was only a couple of plays before Cleo connected with Suzy for yet another TD.

Our defence, led by some stellar ‘tackles for loss’ by Captain Vic Bell put paid to any Stallion hopes of scoring again and with time quickly running out we tried to get a big play for QB-WR combo Karina and Cecilie ‘CC’ Wicklund who had flown back from Norway just to play in the tournament but it wasn’t to be and the game ended with us victorious 28-6.

 

With this final game in the bag we had achieved most of the goals we had set for ourselves at the start of the year, we had won games we needed to win, we had scored against the best, we had stopped the best and we were 3rd in the Premiership South. The team were rightly elated with their achievement and in a moment of euphoria dunked a bucket of water over their HC who, though touched by the gesture (considering the hot conditions) was left uncharacteristically speechless!

To end up 3rd in our division after only 2 seasons is a great achievement for the team and I couldn’t be any happier for them. After our initial losses to the Lions and the Warriors I know there were players doubting what we were trying to do, but they stuck with it and now they can see all their hard work is starting to pay off.

We have our sights set higher for next season and we know what we need to do to achieve this. We’ve fought our way this far and we have no intention of stopping there.

 

Helmet Stickers for plays of the game went to:

Game 1: Sophie C and Suzy for their TD’s against a formidable Warrior defence.

Game 2: Deb’s for her maiden touchdown and Sophie G for ‘stealing the ball from the hands of the RB.

MVP of the day went to Vic Bell for her inspired tackling, backfield disruption and leadership from her DL position.