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Dominant Lewes Obliterate Tired Ashford

Dominant Lewes Obliterate Tired Ashford

Pip Young17 Oct 2016 - 07:56
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Lewes 86-0 Ashford. Match report by Owen Jones.

an outstanding performance from an immense Lewes side who outclassed their opposition in every facet of the game.
- Coach Owen Jones

After the somewhat stuttering performance in the previous match against Medway, Lewes played host to Ashford at home in a must win game this Sunday. Warm yet blustery conditions were the order of the day, and a vigorous warm up showed Lewes to be more than up for the challenge that lay ahead.

Lewes captain Sophie Williams won the toss, and took the tactically astute call to kick off into the wind (away from the club house) for the first 40 minutes, meaning that Lewes would be running towards "home", with the wind at their back for the second half.

See Danny Simpson's photos of the game here>>

From kick off, the physical Ashford pack attempted to place their stamp on the match with some swashbuckling carries from the front row. The Lewes pack however were more than up to the task at hand, and after soaking up the early pressure they turned the ball over on the opposition 10m line. An elegant backs move put outside centre Caro Sugranes into an acre of space, and once there the application of some jazzy French flair and footwork put her in right under the posts.

The early Lewes try seemed to ignite a firework under Ashford rumps, as the next five minutes were truly the best Ashford had to offer on the day. Their physicality and aggression around the contact area were truly a sight to behold, and over the course of several phases of attack they gained around 50m of territory. However... Lewes again showed their defensive abilities and discipline to nullify this threat before it could be turned into points. A great turn over from No 8 AJ Friary resulted in an overlap on the blindside, and after some slick handling Lewes wing "Chip" Chippett showed some serious toe to blitz a full 80m past the entire Ashford defence.

The floodgates opened at this point, and the rampant Lewes team showed their true class for the remainder of the match, scoring a further 12 unanswered tries. The author must admit that so many tries were scored, the exact order and means of scoring have been somewhat lost in the mire... With this in mind, and in order to avoid too much artistic licence the stats are as follows:

Final score: Lewes 86-0 Ashford. Tries were scored by Sophie Williams (C), Hannah Ross, AJ Friary, Grace Darling, Josie Nelder (VC) - 4, Becky Ford (2), Caro Sugranes (3) and "Chip" Chippett.

No 10 Josie Nelder had an outstanding spell off the kicking tee, and converted 8/14 tries successfully (giving her a total of 36 points for the night - whoever picked her for fantasy rugby is laughing all the way to the bank).

Customary highlights of the day section:

1) The ever pacy "Chip" Chippett turning down a 30m wide gap (marked only by a prop) and opting instead for the "more sensible" option of contact

2) No 10 Josie Nelder actually scoring from a chip through to herself

3) Consistently great support lines from the entire Lewes team

4) Captain Sophie Williams doing a try. Well done cap!

All in all, an outstanding performance from an immense Lewes side who outclassed their opposition in every facet of the game.

Lewes have a weekend off, and will then resume their league campaign when they play Canterbury away the following Sunday. Get your support behind the girls ahead of this crunch match.

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