Saturday, 20th April 2024, marked a proud day for Strathendrick Rugby Club with their inaugural Women’s rugby home game played out under a sun drenched sky, in front of an appreciative home crowd. The conditions suited the home team, who effectively dispatched the opposition (Waysides Drumpellier RFC) with an entertaining combination of free flowing attacking rugby and determined defensive effort.

Strathendrick won the match 23 - 10.

Both teams had a large number of players playing their first ever competitive 15 a’side game. The Strathendrick team was formed from a core of players from the Ladies Monday Touch team, complemented by a number of recent graduates from the U18s, Captained by Lynne Seaton. The game also had a second unique storyline in that it featured a mother and daughter playing on the same side; Murrin and Lynsey Thomson both had superb games and will have had to share the honours at the family dinner table that night.

Strathendrick applied the pressure right from the kick off and after a few minutes opened their account with player/coach Ciera Campbell crashing over. Kirsty Morgan adding the conversion.

It was clear that Strathendrick had an advantage in attack, with their off-loading and pace almost resulting in a second try in the right hand corner, only for it to be called back for a forward pass.

They were not to be denied for too long though, and they successfully turned defence into attack. After some good close passing, Becca Macfarlene broke the line and raced clear to run in a try from distance. 12-0 to the home side.

Despite the positive start, the competitiveness of the Waysiders pack meant it was never going to be a walk over. For the next twenty minutes of the game, Strathendrick defended against an effective driving game. Despite some valiant defence, when a pile up over the line resulted in a second try being awarded to Waysiders, the scoreline had narrowed to 12-10.

The break gave Strathendrick the opportunity to re-set and in the final twenty minutes they again demonstrated their fluid attacking capability; Kirsty Morgan displayed her footballing skills, kicking behind the defensive line. She fly hacked the bouncing ball and won the foot race to touch down over the line. 17 - 10.

Strathendrick still had more to offer and saved their best try till last; in doing so, underlining the threat they posed on the counter attack. When Amy snubbed out a dangerous attack from Waysiders with a valiant last line of defence tackle, Lynsey quickly secured possession from the ruck and released the ball to the backs. The ball was deftly distributed down the line and after some impressive off loading and incisive running Becca was again able to cross the line and score 23 - 10.

It was a slight dampener to a great encounter that the final minutes of the match were wound down attending to an injured player; but the crowd that turned out to watch this historic match were highly entertained and rightly proud of their home team.

It is worth mentioning that creating a new woman’s team from scratch requires a supreme amount of effort over a long period of time. The smiles after today’s game would not have been possible without years of hard work from Lynne Seaton to make this happen. Thanks is also due to the Strathendrick Girls Coaches (Lynne, Lynsey and Olivia), Ciera Campbell (player coach), Steven McCooey (referee/ coach) and Fintry Sports Club for providing post match refreshments.

If today’s game is anything to go by, Strathendrick Ladies team have a bright future ahead of them and I for one, can’t wait for the next fixture.

James Pass (Coach - SRFC Ladies Touch Rugby)