Great afternoon for the Furies

It was Sunday 16th May and there was something in the air, other than rain. It was nerves, anticipation, excitement months of covid tension all boiling over and ready to be released on two unsuspected teams who had come over to Fullerians Rugby club for a friendly match.
It was the Furies first game of contact rugby since March 8th 2020. With a New Head Coach in Matt, Katy as the new First team Captain, and 13 New Players getting a chance to play in their first “real” game of rugby for the club it was destined to be a momentous day for the team.
With such great numbers the Furies decided that rather than having a load of subs we would try and run 2 games simultaneously with a full 15 game against Letchworth Lionesses and a slightly smaller game against Cheshunt. Each game was played in 3 20min segments and we swapped players at each break to ensure that everyone got to experience “real” rugby in all its glory.
The letchworth game started off ferociously with both laurel and Rochelle making hard tackles in the first few minutes. Credit where it is due the Lionesses, a brand new team formed during lockdown stood up to the tackles, and it was clear that we were in for a great game of rugby.
Marghe returning to the team after making our favourite cheerleader controlled the game from scrum half and the team worked on their forward pods before passing the ball out to T and the backs. Playing her first game at 10 T bossed the backs and played some amazing heads up rugby to get the Furies up to pitch.
The forwards, clearly missing scrums, decided that it would be a day for crash balls instead especially Ciara who ran into every Lioness that dared to stop her. It was definitely great to have her back on the pitch after her successful stint at university.
Playing adapted rules meant that there was a lot of kicking and whereas the Furies decided that they wanted to tap and go every time, the Lionesses decided to try and kick to touch. Unfortunately any ball that didn’t quite make it fell into Holly’s hands. We have been so excited about Holly coming up from the under 18’s and Sunday showed us why. Every time she got the ball she cut through the opposition like they were not there. Using her pace and slippery footwork to gain metres every time. Scoring 5 tries most of which started in our own half she was deservedly back of the match. T was very impressive of the T and secured us an extra 10 points converting 5 out of our 9 tries.
As the game went on the ran fell discipline started to let the team down and they allowed the lionesses some time on the ball. Laurel, playing her first game for the team hit every tackle and stopped them progressing. She secured her Forward of the match award in that final 20 minutes of the game.
The final score was 55 – 0 to the Furies but I think that all playing would admit that this score line flattered us slightly and that for a new team the Lionesses were very impressive. On another day the score could have been very different and the team will need to take away the lessons learnt from the afternoon and develop if we want to secure our place at the top of the league.
On the other pitch the Furies took on a visiting Cheshunt side blessed with large numbers. Agreeing on the Ready for Rugby format for the first 20 minutes it was a good opportunity to blood in some new players. With a few unfortunate but unavoidable withdraws due to injury, Cheshunt very kindly offered three of their players to pull on the Furies shirt to get the game going and to make the most of the day.
Starting at break neck speed the Furies showed impressive attacking skills. Utilising the width of the pitch they were able to score multiple tries throughout the afternoon. Growing in confidence, It was agreed by both teams that the game would progress and allowing tackling. The cheer from the players could be heard on the other pitch and the sheer joy was clear for everyone to see. This is what people had joined the club for.
Standing their ground, the Furies put in a series of big hits to stop their opponents in their tracks. Beth S a graduate from the under 18s team appeared to cover the entire width of the pitch to make a superb tackle and force her counterpart into touch before she could dot down the ball, preventing a certain try.
The Furies worked hard to stop a strong Cheshunt attack and then managed to counter attack keeping themselves well within the game. A notable try scoring debut for Neli and two late breakaway trys from an unstoppable Jamie meant that the game ended 4 tries to each side.
At the end of the game Coach Terry praised the resilience and determination of the team and commented on how proud he was of all the new players that pulled on the Furies shirt for the first but certainly not last time.
Katy’s captain speech summed up the day nicely when she explained 7 times how much she had enjoyed the day!! Praising all players new and old for playing in the spirit of the game and representing the club with passion and pride.
Head of Women’s Rugby Alban was notably moved by the day, wiping a tear from his eye he said “back when we had 7 players turning up at training on a dark and cold Tuesday night I never imagined that we would get to the stage where we could put out 2 teams so quickly – the players have been patient and understanding throughout lockdown and I am so pleased to see so many players out on the pitch today”.
We couldn’t have asked for friendly opposition for our first contact games of 2021 and Cheshunt and Letchworth Lionesses are both welcome back anytime. As at the end of the day Rugby was the real winner ?