Women’s Tournament 2 – 15/12/2018 @ Cardiff

Tournament 2 – 15/12/2018 @Cardiff
If we thought that the last tournament was wet and cold then our trip to Wales was to make that look like a day at the beach! We arrived to freezing rain and strong winds and would be subject to those conditions for most of the day.
Our first game against Cardiff started well with our ‘O’ and ‘D’ firing on all cylinders with standout performances from Lauren ‘Bovril’ Drewett busting out some explosive runs whilst Sarah ‘Millsy’ Miller made tackles all over the field.
However Cardiff, whose numbers were low to start with did not quit and scored touchdowns on both Offence and Defence as well as recording a Safety. We were to finish with a score in our favour of 43-15 but I repeat what I said on the day that ‘we may have beaten them in points but not in spirit’.
Our second game was to be against our old adversaries from last season, the Oxford Saints. With them having beaten us convincingly in the last tournament we set out with the intention to balance our record against them. Both teams entered the game low on numbers and having to battle the worsening weather conditions. However we were to strike first with a hard fought touchdown from our multi-purpose star ‘Millsy’ and went into half time ahead 6-0. Coming out for the second half we were hoping to grind out the game and keep (if not extend) our lead. But with both teams initially struggling it started to turn into a battle of attrition. Eventually the Saints wore us down and were able to drive downfield against us not once but twice to finish the game victors 14-6.
A cold wet day, but a day of great football nonetheless courtesy of our good hosts the Valkyries.