Complacent Warriors Pay the Price

The regional stage of the National 10s tournament had started so promisingly at Petersfield yesterday with Warriors notching up a 10-5 win over Worthing, 17-12 over Solent Sirens and 17-0 against Exeter Saracens. The morning session finished with Warriors needing one more win to qualify for the national finals but during the lunch break the fizz definitely went out of the Warriors.

First up after lunch was Reading, a team Warriors had beaten twice before this season but with the potential to beat anyone on their day. A tired and weary looking Warriors side took the field and never got into their stride. A fired up Reading side kept the pressure on made Warriors pay for sloppy passing and missed tackles. Reading took a first minute lead and never looked in trouble. They finished worthy winners at 12-0.

The final match was against fierce rivals Wimborne. Having knocked the Wiltshire side out of the cup 3 weeks ago, this was the Black & Greens first chance to get revenge. Again Warriors poor passing let them down and Wimborne raced into a 14-0 lead. Warriors came back with 2 tries but failure to convert them cost them as the game finished 14-10.

As word spread around the adjacent pitches that Warriors had 'imploded' the jeers and jibes were a bitter pill for the Warriors to swallow. 'We've worked hard to get into the top tier of girls rugby and when you're up there people want to knock you down. Well, we got knocked down today, good and proper' said Team Manager Dave Marques. He went on 'I think after that amazing performance against Worcester the previous week in the cup final, quite a few went into the Reading game expecting an easy time. Reading showed them otherwise. They fought back against Wimborne but paid for a slow start. We've had a great 12 months and built up a reputation. It's taken a denting but we'll pick ourselves up and move on. Let's hope we've learnt a lesson. Wimborne showed us how to bounce back, we'll need to copy that'.