OURFC Women vs Oxford Brookes match report, courtesy of Elmarie van Heerden and Carly Bliss:
OURFC Women’s second match was a preseason friendly against Oxford Brookes University’s 1st XV on Wednesday 7th October, KO 3pm.
The first try of the match came after just 2 minutes when strong running and quality offloads from an Oxford scrum enabled outside centre, Emily Stone, to battle her way over the line. As the game continued, Oxford’s physicality and tough defense made it difficult for the Brookes women to build up any momentum. Oxford was quick to form rucks off the breakdown, which gave Oxford’s scrum-half Carly Bliss lots of opportunity to spread the ball to the backs, who were able to exploit the spaces in the Brookes defense. Brookes fended off a possible 2nd try by holding up the Oxford in the centres.
The second and third tries of the match were scored by Oxford women, from the combined hard work of the forwards, who picked up and drove relentlessly to cross the try line. The try scorer on both occasions was Woman of the Match, Elmarie van Heerden. A conversion by Katie Whiting extended Oxford’s lead to 17 points.
Good tactical kicking by Oxford saw much of the match’s remainder played in the Brookes half. In the last couple of minutes of the match, there was a spark in the Brookes team which lead them to carry and offload the ball much better than before, however at full time, Oxford were victorious without conceding any points. A great team effort by the Oxford women and a performance to be proud of.
Woman of the Match: Elmarie van Heerden
Final score: 17-0 to OURFC Women.
Scores