Seven-try Yorkshire put Surrey to the sword

Women’s Division 1

Surrey ……………… 7pts

Tries: Grove 76

Conversions: Hill 77

Yorkshire……….37pts

Tries: Green 9, Gould 33, Brown 40, Akwiwu 54, Patrick 60, 80; Holmes 71

Conversions: Taylor-Roberts 61

Yorkshire were crowned champions of the Gill Burns County competition with a seven-try demolition of Surrey.

Vice captain, lock Amy Gould was delighted to have secured her side’s first title since 2019.

She told The Rugby Paper: “We got thrown in the first 10 minutes because we lost our captain and then her replacement. We had to completely readjust our team, take it back to basics, reset and go from there.

“We’re fortunate that in our team we have a massive forward pack that are really dominant. The forwards do a lot of hard work, so we can also do good work out the back, shifting it wide which we did really well.”

There was a lengthy interval early on as referee Kasey Allen was forced to stop the game after Yorkshire captain Lauren Bolger was stretchered off with a head injury.

After play resumed, Yorkshire thrived despite losing their skipper.

A strong bulldozing carry by Yorkshire’s Katie Patrick laid the platform for her second row partner Gould to use quick hands, which allowed full-back Danie Green to score the opening try.

Alix Taylor-Roberts’ conversion flew wide and the fly-half failed to make amends just short of the half hour mark as a routine penalty from straight in front drifted wide.

Yorkshire were awarded another penalty straight in front but this time scrum-half Hannah Dawes went quickly.

Powerful No.8 Lois Brown went close with a direct run but it was the rangy Gould who crossed for the second try.

Things went from bad to worse as Surrey inside centre Jayne Meadows was yellow carded for repeated infringements after her high tackle.

Yorkshire’s extra player paid off at the end of the first half as the brilliant Brown delivered a sucker punch with a try from close-range, despite four defenders hanging off her.

The northerners carried on as they left off in the first half, dominating possession and territory but courageous defence by Surrey momentarily kept them at bay.

That was until Adaoha Akwiwu ran a sumptuous arching line to score Yorkshire’s fourth try and blindside flanker Becky Patrick furthered their dominance by bursting through the helpless Surrey defence.

Taylor-Roberts scored her first conversion at the fifth time of asking which was greeted with loud cheers from the travelling Yorkshire faithful.

Yorkshire continued to run riot as winger Georgina Holmes profited from neat offloads to the outside, cutting back inside to go under the posts.

Surrey were outclassed but showed real spirit and got on the scoresheet late on through substitute Ellie Grove but it was the champions that had the final say as Patrick completed a fine display with her second try.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed rugby news you need, subscribe to The Rugby Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.