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Millwall Venus XV
Match Report Opposition:
Hitchin Click here to return to the Match Report Index page. Report written by: Jodie Botha Preparations for what was likely to be our last league fixture of the season had been fraught with anxiety. Key players missing and others likely to be doubtful for the fixture, meant it all hang on a knifes edge. Somehow Rachel managed to pull a team out of her arse with the help of some of my left over KY jelly (why she had been hiding players there all season is something she can only answer). Sadly, playing Rosslyn Park was not to be as they cancelled on Saturday. Unwilling to cancel with the knowledge certain players (me) had kissed off an afternoons work to make themselves available, a friendly was hurriedly arranged with Hitchin – the team we first played last season as the newly affiliated Millwall Venus and more importantly providers of pizza and fried chicken for afters. Things began to fall apart sometime on Saturday with the foolhardy tour run in the Ledger. I question the wisdom of certain people who have not played this season insisting the girls drink to tour rules the night before a match. Don’t think I’m going to forget Andrew setting me up for a full pint or The Greek insisting I drink it, in a hurry. This brings me onto a shameful episode. My Saturday partner in crime Emma-Louise emphatically stated she was going to go home early and not get drunk. She was last seen bouncing around the five bells at about 1 am when I left. As a result she was too hung over to play. Yes, it is true, she is guilty of the heinous crime of not playing due to alcohol abuse. I anticipate a fine at some point. Things got a bit more shaky with star guest Erica pulling out due to a lack of boots. Having arrived after the proposed kick off time we undoubtedly suffered in the first half with the lack of proper warm up time. Hitchin came out all guns blazing from the kick off and were determined to get an early score. Oxygen imports would have been welcome after the first frenetic five minutes. Still, an earlier fatty Venus side would have probably seen a try during that time so despite their reasonably early first try, the fact they weren’t fifteen points up after ten minutes was encouraging. We struggled to get into it in the first half, full back Trudie delicately expressing her disgust at our reticence to join in the game wholeheartedly. The first half was characterised by some high tackles mainly from Hitchin’s over keen number 8. Claire being the recipient of most of them took exception to it and attempted to land a rather wild left hook which luckily didn’t connect. The ref, surprisingly for a man, was at a loss as to how to deal with two females rolling round in the mud so it was left to others to separate the scrapping two. There was some good attacking play in the first half by Hitchin, notably an excellent run as one girl was tackled and another ran at pace over the top smoothly taking the ball and running on. It was certainly down to some exhilarating tackles from Trudie and Rachel that we didn’t concede more points. Half time arrived and Hitchin had fourteen points. Winning didn’t seem to be an option at this point. Having gone off to freeze my thumb (a casualty from my girlie tackling at the start of the game, it’s big and purple today) I missed what must surely have been a rousing speech. Whatever was said must have brilliant to inspire to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as the second half was a case of 1,2,3 we made it look as easy as A,B,C. Newcomer Nicole was a revelation throughout the game. Having been placed in the front row on her first game and contested scrums without fear she played the game with a reckless abandon. Her keenness seeing her get penalised for unknowing errors. By the second half, a move to full back as Trudie went off saw her come through and score a blistering try, as well as some fantastic runs – two favourites being a screamer up the wing and also an incisive run through the centre of the pitch with three Hitchin girls hanging off her. Add to this a commitment to contact and she was a well deserved forward of the match. North scored a determined try for the pack after being unfairly denied moments earlier. An error in Hitchin lining up on their try line saw a 3 on one situation with North having the option to send a pass to Rachel and if needed straight on to me where the space was. North decided not to bother and grounded it firmly herself much to Rachel’s disgust. Rachel decided that after being around for the last few Venus try’s and missing out on scoring herself was mildly insulting, decided it was about time to sort it out and she went on to score the winning try. It can be no coincidence that things really came together for the pack when myself, North and Alison formed ourselves a little “three stooges” act. The fight to not be in the line of the kick when receiving was complimented nicely by the steady stream of banter between us which disturbed the ref greatly. The pack definitely worked better in the second half, managing to drive mauls and get the ball out of rucks at a greater rate. Not one to blow one’s own trumpet I’d like to point out my own achievements from the game. I think I can be justifiably proud of being labelled the best looking hooker the ref’s ever seen (Kev take note). However, he was also stunned by the use of certain less than fragrant words also by myself. Again our less than orthodox line out calls were extremely entertaining and served the triple purpose of confusing the opposition, their supporters and also the ref. I’m also quite proud that my shameless patter at scrums and breakdowns had the ref more than a little hot under the collar. All for the good of Millwall of course. Claire is beginning to settle into the position of fly half and stamped her authority on the line at all times. It was also encouraging to see we now have a third player who can kick confidently as Claire converted the second try. Again we need to really work at coming from depth and running forwards rather than sideways but the backs are becoming more confident at moving the ball from hand. Once in flow the pack worked well, it was a shame we had to move to uncontested but as the scrums were less than comfortable – the Hitchin inexperience really showing in the first half it was the only safe option. Myself and North had an uncharacteristic bad time in the line outs but certainly it didn’t give Hitchin a great deal of advantage as we have developed the knack of defending more strongly from the line out. Things looked a bit dangerous towards the end of the game with Hitchin spending an unhealthy amount of time in our 22. Some committed defence saw us hold them off until a heart stopping moment saw them drive forward towards the line. I have it on good authority from my fan the ref who is still bemused by it, Hitchin’s eventual knock on was due to the fact three of their players were fighting over the ball. If only they had learnt from the three stooges school of comedy 22 performances. Alison and myself being more than happy at all times to let North have the ball and support by throwing her over the line. No matter, the ref shortly blew the final whistle to whoops of joy from Venus followed by a quick silence as we anxiously checked the score in case we hadn’t worked it out right. A winning score line was confirmed and the celebrations commenced. I can honestly say there have been few wins that have meant as much to me in my rugby career. The fact I can’t move, have a giant purple thumb and sound like Lily Savage after Manchester Mardi Gras do not dampen the joy. Advance Venus, advance!Click here to return to the Match Report Index page. Visit our Gallery of team and individual photos - click here.
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