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Millwall Venus XV
Match Report Opposition:
Twickenham Click here to return to the Match Report Index page. Report written by: Jodie Botha The day dawned crisp and clear. I woke with a start. Something was wrong. Badly wrong. I couldn't work out what it was so commenced making a healthy fry up. While scoffing black pudding it suddenly hit me. I wasn't drunk or hung over. I was full of fear. How would I cope without the effects of alcohol to get me through the game? Was it good or bad thing? The signs were auspicious at the farm meet. Nestled between what our highly observant captain of the day Toni told us were Christmas trees we realised that yet again we had a team plus subs with last minute second rows declaring their availability to play for a friendly. Sod's law dictates this will never happen for an important league match where you will inevitably be forced to bribe a winger to go second row and then pay for trauma counselling afterwards. Never mind, the abundance of players warmed us more than the cold winter sun could ever manage.
We arrived in plenty of time and skipped out to the pitch. Having realised our mistake from previous matches we decided to wait for the opposition to arrive before commencing our warm up, and were entertained by the delightful Wiggy who decided not to bother going home from the night before and come straight down to drink before his match. This proved to be a mistake for us as we slowly lost the ability to circulate blood through our veins, Twickenham got lost on the way and didn't turn up till after 13:00 (K:O was scheduled for 12:30). This meant we played 15 minute halves.
What can I say about such a short game? What can I say about the fact we lost against a team newer than ourselves? The fact our supporters had failed to grasp that the scrums were uncontested and kept yelling for “big scrum Millwall” at every available opportunity? The fact the ref couldn't remember the name of the opposition? (it was Twickenham, really how hard could that be?!)
The first half started well with us camped in their half for a while. Our inability to score tries yet again proved to be our downfall. A rubbish line out ball from myself (yes, incase anyone needs to ask I am the hooker, save the sniggering for another time) meant we squandered a chance to let our dynamic but really angry on the day prop Alison Snape (AKA North) power through the line and score. Ah but such is life. Not long after this, a breakaway run where just about everyone failed to commit to tackling the Twickenham player saw them scoring the only points of the match.
After the match against Hammersmith which confused us forwards (their backs, like ran really fast so we couldn't hit them) the pack returned to some of its former glory although lacking in the dynamism and sparkle we usually show. The backs were disorganised and with notable exceptions have failed to grasp the discipline of running straight and forward. The two bright lights in the backs were newcomers Claire and Miriam who have proved to be great finds. Claire, despite some unfortunate knock-on's (she did drop the beers in the ASDA car park before the game, this should have been an ominous sign of things to come) worked really hard at cleaning up the mess at the back after the many kicks from Twickenham. Her fearless and strong running into the fray is something useful that I'm sure will develop over time into something devastating. Miriam's stature and ability to run straight makes her a good attacking back, and her tackling is becoming more and more solid, giving us some comfort in defence.
Shortly after the final whistle blew sharply leaving us as unsatisfied as Hanibal Lecter in the organic vegetable section of ASDA. Another day, another uncecssary defeat.
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