Match Report: UK Armed Forces 0-63 England Students
- Will Gupwell
- 11 hours ago
- 2 min read
The England Students Women’s side once again put UKAF to the sword in an impressive 63-0 victory at Cobham RFC last weekend (11 July). SRFU's Will Gupwell reports:
The Students took a dominant lead heading into the break, scoring 41 points and seven tries courtesy of a hat-trick from co-captain for the day, Exeter University’s Eva Sterritt, as well as tries from Cardiff Met fullback Morgan Burke, Alana Bainbridge, Sarah Shrestha and Isabel van der Straaten.
The tries kept flooding in the second period, with Izzy Newnes-Smith crossing early, followed by a second of the afternoon for van der Straaten, a fourth for Sterritt, and finally one more from Brunel’s Lucy Sharpe to see out the game.
First Half
England came out of the blocks firing with a first score on the board from co-captain Sterritt, who went in untouched under the posts from a strike play off a scrum in the third minute of the game. They added a second shortly after, from Loughborough University’s Sarah Shrestha, on a hard line around the corner of a short pass from the base of the ruck.
The Students added their third in impressive, albeit risky, fashion as Sophie Langford fired out a lopping pass over the top, which was almost intercepted but luckily found the hands of Burke, who walked it over.Â
After the hydration break under the beaming sun at Cobham RFC, the students struck once again, this time from a rolling maul from which it was Tigers Women and University of Law’s Bainbridge who was the beneficiary. The fifth came from yet more strength and power that UKAF couldn’t contend with, and it was Bristol Bears and Bristol University’s van der Straaten who crashed over.
England hit back straight off the restart, launching from inside their own 22 with the other co-captain for the day, Loughborough Lightning and Loughborough University back row Ellie Roberts, who made a scything break and gave the offload away to Sterritt, who ran it in for her second.Â
Sterritt completed her hat-trick on the stroke of half-time as the ball found its way out to her wing again for an easy finish for a player of her pace.
Second Half
England came back out for the second period and continued with the same attacking ferocity they showed in the first, launching an attack that found the athletic Newnes-Smith, who sold a brilliant dummy and ran it in for an excellent score.
It was another powerful effort from replacement prop van der Straaten close to the line for her brace, and England’s ninth of the afternoon, followed by co-captain Sterritt running in her fourth and final try for the afternoon as she showed a clear pair of heels to the covering defender to dot down over the line.
It took until the closing moments of the game for the Students to cross the 60-point mark, as Sharpe ran a nice line off Roberts’s shoulder to go over one last time, putting the cherry on top of an excellent performance all round.Â
