Last home game for the Ladies results in a win

Crewe and Nantwich Ladies' winger Georgie Perris-Redding scored 6 tries in a hard fought victory to seal an unbeaten inaugural season for the Black and Whites.

On a perfect day for running rugby, Simone Christopher opened the scoring with a sharply taken try from the kick-off, shrugging off 3 tackles before breaking loose and running in the try from deep inside her own half.

Georgie Perris-Redding added another soon afterwards down the right wing from some sharp interplay between Claire Waterhouse and EJ MacLeod to lay down a marker to the Didsbury team. Although the opposition are a newly created outfit, it became clear they hadn't just come to make up the numbers, showing their individual pedigree particularly through their impressive fly-half Hannah Watson. Crewe and Nantwich were forced to defend desperately before a well taken turnover from flanker Laura Hollinshead again started a move releasing Georgie in space. with the scoreline 19-0, the home support expected a big win.

Didsbury, made up of a number of University of Manchester players and some ladies fairly new to the game began to click into gear soon as half-time approached, bringing the scoreline to 19-7 through some excellent forward play, particularly from their experienced front row.

Crewe and Nantwich Ladies scored quickly into the second half after a line-out gave fly-half Pheobe Jay a half-break down the right hand side. A wonderful offload out of the tackle yet again found Georgie Perris-Redding in space- her pace was too much for the Didsbury backs and the scoreline started to look ominous again for the home side.

Didsbury were very far from finished, however and made life very difficult for the Crewe pack who had lost Mercedes Lyons to injury forcing Hannah Templeman to play out of position in the back row. Louise Reade, returning to playing after 4 years out was called upon to put in a tough shift in the front row to shore up Crewe's much improved scrum. The set-piece held out, but in the loose the big Didsbury forwards punched holes, asking for big tackles from the Crewe players. Lock Chelsea Hobbs put in a particularly solid defensive display with captain Helena Crook tackling hard throughout the game.

Didsbury scored an excellent try to narrow the score through their impressive centre with 10, Hannah Watson adding the conversion to narrow the scores to 24-14. Hannah then went one better minutes later with one of the tries of the day, chipping a turned-over Crewe ball behind debutant winger Lola Tomkinson to touch down. The conversion was missed, but the score-line 24-19 was far more reflective of the balance of the game.

With the Crewe players tiring, they desperately needed some spark. It came just moments later again through Georgie Perris-Redding who went from appearing well marked and unsupported in her own half to scoring a blistering try under the posts in the blink of an eye. Even on video replay it's hard to understand quite how she managed it, dodging 4 tackles before skinning the Didsbury full-back for pace to score under the posts. Sam Kirk's conversion was well needed to get the score further away from Didsbury, but at 31-19, the Crewe and Nantwich Ladies were in control of the game again.

Didsbury showed a lot of spirit and some excellent ability to keep playing hard, closing down several Crewe and Nantwich breaks from Claire Waterhouse, India Perris-Redding and Laura Hollinshead and coming close to scoring again. Lola Tomkinson had to work hard in defence in her first ever game to keep the opposition out, tackling well as the game neared its end. Yet another Perris-Redding try took the game further away from Didsbury, again through a ruck turnover, good interplay with the back row with Phoebe Jay releasing her backs down the right-hand side.

Didsbury did score next through their backs to stay in the game, but as the game neared it's conclusion, Georgie completed an incredible double hat-trick to finish the game off. Hannah Templeman also came close from an excellent pick and drive as the clock ticked into the red.

In the final game of the season for Crewe and Nantwich, coaches Matt Baty, Marc Jones and Nick Kennedy can feel excited that they have the makings of a strong team with some genuine star quality in certain positions. With League rugby a possibility for next season, although there is much work to be done, it's polishing rather than building- a fantastic position to be in after such a short space of time.