Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Women's rugby defeat Sheffield University
Beckett’s Women’s Rugby Union Club earned their first win of the season as they thumped South Yorkshire rivals the University of Sheffield 45-5 in a one-sided affair.
The club were narrowly defeated by Lancashire opponents Manchester Metropolitan University 22-19 away from home last week and were eager to get their season up and running with a victory in their home game.
Minutes till kick off! Come on girls @LBUWRFC pic.twitter.com/0nOvGSUDY0
— Carnegie Sport🐻 (@carnegiesport) October 17, 2018
Tale of the match
Beckett wasted little time in imposing their dominance on this week’s match. Flanker Leah Burke struck first for the home side with an early try in the seventh minute to give Beckett the advantage.
From there, Beckett wasted little opportunities with fly-half Evie Tonkin adding to her points tally this season with a try and conversion to give Beckett a 14-point lead in as many minutes.
Sheffield showed some mettle, however, resisting the Beckett onslaught before winger Tiko Seru sneaked over from the scrum to give Team Beckett a 21-0 lead at half time.
The second half continued the same as the first, Beckett continued their dominance and showed little compassion for their Sheffield opponents, outside centre Jessica Chung adding to Beckett’s lead, 26-0.
Shortly after, Leah Burke scored her second of the match before Beckett captain Hannah Walton got her name on the try scoring sheet to give Beckett a 40-0 lead.
Despite the domination from Beckett, Sheffield did pick up a consolation try to bring the scores to 40-5 but Beckett had the last say when player of the match Evie Tonkin crossed to give Beckett their 45-5 victory.
Leeds Beckett’s Player of the Match
Evie Tonkin
Tries
(7’, 54’) Burke, (14’, 80’) Tonkin, (25’) Seru, (50’) Chung, (66’) Walton
Goals
Tonkin 5/7
Coaches summary – Andy Clitheroe
I am massively proud of the team. Our focus today was to get fresher’s as much game time as possible and for them to gel as a team. I think it really did show today how hard they have been working during training and this was reflective in the score.
There has been a great atmosphere today at the game with all the development players coming down to support the team and it just shows how strong women’s rugby is at the moment at Leeds Beckett University.