And so we bring down the curtain on a season to remember…
Last season, this fixture was the only game the women won. They couldn’t repeat the win, but it almost didn’t matter: they’d already won six and drawn one this season. The playoffs were not a possibility, so this was almost a matter of judging where they are in their progress toward PWR champions.
Still, never say never…
For maybe fifteen minutes, we had some hope that Sale might manage a seventh win. They were on top for all of that opening period, with a try from Georgie Perris-Redding giving them a deserved seven-point lead.
But then Exeter started to pull the game back around, and scores from Moloney-Macdonald (the English one) and Tutossi reversed that lead. Amy Cokayne (of course) pulled five points back, but then Hope Rogers cancelled that, before Moloney-Macdonald scored her “second” and Exeter’s “fourth”. I put those in scare quotes because, loath as I am to criticise the officials, it is surely the principal role of the touch judge to judge touch, and missing the ball clearly touching the line to go touch-in-goal was a major lapse. Maybe renaming them to “assistant referee” has led to a loss of focus.
To be honest, much of the game was an exercise in damage limitation. That they came back to score two more (including an absolute gem from Rhona Lloyd) is a testament to their determination not to be written off.
And I must just mention Amy Cokayne’s glorious 50-22 in the first half. Sublime. Is there anything she can’t do?
Kudos to the two wingers, Shona Campbell and Rhona Lloyd: they have been on fire this year. I like the way Holly and Lizzie can seamlessly swap duties at fly half and full back, and the way they share the kicking duties.
Tysh Harper and Nick James have done a superb job at prop. Those two plus Amy Cokayne make a pretty decent front row. Erica Jarrell-Searcy is fulfilling the same role for the women as Ben Bamber does for the men: go-to lineout choice, hard carrier, enforcer. She scores more tries, though.
What the women have achieved this season has exceeded my hopes. With the new signings coming in, I expect a lot more next year.
an old grey dog 