Cheltenham Tigers celebrate a crowd pleasing 51-15 victory on home territory with eight tries secured against an aggressive Northern side.
Cheltenham Tiger’s Championship winner Grace Gillard said after the match: “we knew that they’d be aggressive and that they’d carry hard. We knew we’d have to put in big hits in defence but their number three (Hannah Davis), we just couldn’t pin her down quick enough.”
After previously suffering from a defeat against Leicester Tigers and being last season’s Championship winners, the home-side were aware of the importance of this game for their table position of top four.
Gillard states: “After the Leicester Tigers game, we knew we had to get our head down and show West Park Leeds what we are capable of and we did that with an outstanding performance.”
Starting their match on a high, Cheltenham’s well-known winger Chloe Morris made her signature move and tore up the artificial grass alongside teammate Emma Mundy for the full-back to secure the first try of the afternoon.
Although to the Tiger’s dislike, the visitors’ kick-chase to the top of the pitch secured the Blues enough time to quickly get the ball over the whitewash to equalise the scoreboard at 5-5.
“Our first two tries were quickly brought back to us. We switched off.”
grace gillard
With the levels of aggression rising as the clock ticked into the 25th minute, the fight for dominance on the scoreboard continued as West Park returned the tries that the Tigers were awarded to put the score to 10-10.
Once again Gloucester-Hartpury’s dual registered Mundy shattered through the visitors’ defence to cross over the line with a crowd pleasing try and a 15-10 lead.
Despite the scoreboard favouring the home-side, West Park’s forward force kept tearing up ground as their prop Hannah Davis used her handoffs to tear down four of the Tiger’s players.
And as the injury list began, newly dual registered Hartpury and Tigers centre Beth Jones cracked West Park’s defence around the breakdown and left them on the back foot as she paced for a textbook try and 22-10 lead.
Despite West Park’s continued attempt to kick out of their danger zone, Tigers Chloe Morris’ charge down left the visitors on the back foot once again as she drove over the line for a 27-10 with no conversion at half time.
Unlike previous results against the Blues, the half time score was the closest it has ever been between the two teams.
Out of the changing rooms, West Park’s confidence continued to build with their tough hits and strong exit play.
But with Tiger’s quick turnovers around the ruck, ability to rip the ball and strong scrums, Captain Maddie Massey weaved over the line to be named the first scorer in the second half at 32-10.
As the visitor’s tried to repay the favour with a try, their discipline faltered as their second row double rolled and the ground, which handed the Tigers back the ball in their red zone.
West Park Leeds were finally awarded their much earned try as their forwards drove over the line with no conversion.
As the scoring continued, Gillard creeped over the line with a maul and was unknowingly awarded her first ever try for the Tigers for a 40-15 lead.
Gillard joked: “To be honest I thought it was a penalty as soon as I put the ball down so there wasn’t really any celebration.”
As the powering force and quick footwork continued, Tigers were happy to finish the game with Morris’ second try and conversion to make the final score 51-15.
Cheltenham Tigers’ next game is against Newcastle side Novocastrians Ladies at Newlands Park on Sunday, 6 November 2022.
