Women’s rugby league: National League

Last updated 15:56, Wednesday, 07 May 2008

THE Wildcats ended their season on a high with a magnificent win over their Lancashire opponents.

A win for the away side would have made them runners-up in the league, however it was not meant to be with Wildcats proving more than a handful.

In a well-contested match, each Wildcat played a key part in aiding the victory working tirelessly in both attack and defence.

The first try came after good strong running down field from Amy Lee led to a close range pass from Claire Hall to create the gap for Amanda Donaldson to power her way over the line. She also converted her own try, the first of four for the day.

But the Hillside team came back with two tries after strong running from the forwards to go into half-time with an 8-6 lead.

The second half began positively, with good drives coming from the Wildcats’ forwards.

This momentum continued and Laura Rowell created a try, putting Amanda Donaldson into space, who again showed her strength and crashed over the line. Donaldson eventually scored a hat-trick of tries in her side’s win.

The next touchdown came after Laura Rowell put up the high kick leaving Holly Freestone to gather and race to the line.

The visitors from Hillside were clearly rattled by this and Claire Hall took advantage by foxing the defence and switching play to put Laura Rowell in for her second try of the match.

Player-of-the-match Rowell then completed her hat-trick with an excellent dummy pass only to go herself and score by the posts.

Hillside began their attempted comeback and starting to put more pressure on the home side.

They made it a rather tense closing stages by using their big forwards and switching play, however the Copeland ladies worked tirelessly in defence, Stephanie Graham and Sarah Edgar leading the way making important tackles out wide.

However, Hillside were coming back stronger in the closing 15 minutes and scored three tries and nearly scored a fourth, however Rachel Cairns made a vital tackle on the Hillside winger just short of the line.

Despite the comeback towards the end of the game, the Wildcats were able to hold on and secure the win.