TRFC Ladies vs Trowbridge

The Ladies of Taunton RFC added to their match experience on Sunday when they hosted a touring team from Trowbridge. Speaking about his side, Taunton coach Chris Brown was able to count on the fingers of one hand how many of them had played a game of rugby prior to this season. “Some of them,” he said, “Only started playing as recently as four weeks ago.”

Therefore, it was good news that the word went round prior to kick-off that the tourists had enjoyed a big Saturday night. There was no sign of any sluggishness though from Trowbridge in the evenly matched opening but Taunton were contesting every breakdown and trying to get the ball wide to their pacy outside backs.

However, in the tenth minute the deadlock was broken when Trowbridge’s fly half, Jess Cooper, kicked through and gathered the bouncing ball to race in beneath the black dot. It was Cooper who took the conversion too and from that moment on she was the clear difference between the teams.

Undaunted, Taunton began to move into opposition territory and good handling from the back division saw the ball shipped wide to Harriet Day on the left wing. A genuine pocket rocket, she showed both pace and strength, breaking several tackles to score in the corner with two defenders hanging on to her.

There was genuine cause for home side optimism then when the whistle blew for the end of the first quarter with Trowbridge holding a narrow7-5 lead. Immediately the second quarter began though, Cooper scored a superb solo try for the visitors. The Somerset side countered with some strong running up the middle, particularly from captain Britt Fassam who showed real energy in straightening up attacks in the Taunton midfield.

Despite some hardy defensive work, Taunton conceded a third try, again under the posts and it would have been easy for heads to go down. Not these Taunton Ladies though! In the dying moments of the half, Georgia Hobbs finished off a move on the wing which involved at least half of the team in the build-up. The speedy Hobbs left several Trowbridge defenders floundering in the mud as she found enough room on the outside to make it to the try line.

That made it Taunton 10 Trowbridge 19 at the midway stage but the third quarter belonged emphatically to the visitors and, in particular, to Jess Cooper. From the kick-off the Trowbridge full-back ran the ball through the heart of the Taunton defence, some of whom might still have been picking the pith of the half-time oranges from their gumshields. When she was eventually hauled down on the 22, Cooper was on her shoulder to complete her hat-trick.

After a prolonged spell of Taunton possession, Cooper went on another run and set up a fifth try while half her team-mates – perhaps showing signs of the big night out – watched on from their own half. The Cooper show continued with two more solo tries, the trickery of her dummies and side-steps bewildering the inexperienced Taunton defenders.

It was 43-10 at three-quarters time. Trowbridge opted tore place the outstanding Cooper and the impact she had made on the game became even more pronounced because, in her absence, the visitors lost the final quarter 14-0. Firstly Hobbs, a Passenger Handling Agent at Exeter Airport, scored her second try of the game when she finished off a great Taunton move which involved solo runs by centre Hannah Wareham and Day who had moved to full-back and ghosted into the line. Hobbs (pictured in the act of scoring that second try) still had work to do, mind you, and she had the presence of mind to run the ball under the posts once she had shrugged off the flailing defence.

The Taunton winger, who began playing rugby only during the lockdown, was only playing in her fourth game and had never scored a try before. “They were my first two,” she said after the final whistle, “It feels amazing. I don’t remember much about them, it’s a bit of a blur. When you get the ball you lose focus on everything else around you.”

In the final move of the game there was more joy for the home side when the dogged Wareham who had tackled with vigour throughout the game seized on a loose ball and ran around the flagging Trowbridge defence to touch down under the posts. It meant that the final score was 43-24 to Trowbridge, 33 points scored by the exceptional Jess Cooper.

For Taunton though there is plenty of reason to take confidence from the fixture. For much of the game Taunton played with the greater cohesion, recycling possession well and looking to function as a team unit. In Hobbs and Day there are a couple of stunning wingers with the pace to scare any defence. Both are strong contenders for player of the match, but my selection would have to be scrum-half, Fiona Mossman, who was the real heartbeat of the team. In attack she looked for the opportunities and read the game with great maturity for someone playing only her sixth game of rugby and in defence she was a terrier, fearlessly felling forwards twice her size.

After handshakes, a guard of honour and three cheers all round, both teams posed together for photos in the true spirit of rugby. Taunton may have been defeated on the scoreboard but rightly celebrated another huge step forward in their development. “It’s the best game we’ve played, ”commented Hobbs. “And it’s the highest score we’ve got so far. So rewarding. ”Onwards and upwards for the Taunton RFC Ladies.

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