Reading Knights Smash Brighton!
As seen on The Spark website, our university's student run newspaper
What can I say about the fabulous girls in red? Made up of a variety of year groups from Freshersto Masters’ students, this year’s team has proven to show some real promise both in their training sessions and the first match of the season last Wednesday. The team, led by their encouraging captain Sammy Cooper, displayed a huge improvement from their friendly against Royal Holloway, seeing them put forward all the new skills, such as their scrums giving them multiple opportunities to gain ground in the opposition’s field of play. The atmosphere was immense as the girls were cheered on by the roaring crowd of teammates like Rosie Dennis, Ella Povery, Chessie Harkin, Megan Hamberly, Manon Jones, Harriet Robson, Molly Wells and Abi Wall belting out support along with fellow students and parents.
The match saw the Reading Knights face Brighton University, who put up a very good fight, yet were worn down by the girls’ strong defensive line and tackles. There was never a dull moment on the pitch seeing two fantastic tries from one of the newest members of the team, Grace Potter,who tore up the pitch against the opposition with the support of Nicole Maynard, who was battling through as winger for the game. Special mention was also given to Zuzia Briggs who was nominated as best forward of the match with her skillful tackles and support for other players in rucks.
The match was a superb example of the girls’ capability to transfer skills to different positions, seeing Romy Barton step up to the plate as full-back, winning the girls the game 25 to 21 with a sky-rocketing kick that soared over the posts. What is lovely to see is the bond between players both on and off the pitch, as on socials such as the famous ‘Cheese, Mice and Cats’ and ‘Dead Rugby’, where all of the girls are made to feel welcome no matter if you’re new or a returner. There is a sense of warmth and care that sometimes lacks in a team sport as each player is made to feel as an intrinsic part of the driving force that is women’s rugby. One newcomer to the sport,Ashely Thio Jiaen, commented: “Never thought I’d play rugby, but the adrenaline, the game and most importantly the girls make it all worthwhile”,showing that it’s not just enjoying the sport that matters but the people you meet that make the experience.
Rugby is not an easy game to learn but to perform at that level as a team is fantastic and there are only more improvements to come. The girls next challengers will be King’s College London next week, where,if they played as professionally as they have recently, is sure to be, as teammate Harriet Robson stated “an exhilarating game”. Be sure to come and watch the next home game against Queen Mary’s London on the 25th November and support the girls on what may continue to be a fantastic season.
