The Lionesses made the short trip to Rushden to play the Rushden Hurricanes in their first outing for almost 2 years.
The squad boasted 8 players making their debuts with 2 Lionesses playing their first game of adult rugby, 4 playing their first ever game of rugby!
The nerves certainly told with Rushden starting fast with their hard running centres and back row putting dents in the defensive line and the Lionesses soon found themselves 17-0 down!
Up stands Captain fantastic with some wise words (and a couple of small pointers from the coaches) and Ampthill finally got their hands on the ball. Then came some hard carries from Beth Knaggs, Sammie Godleman, Sofia Kruszewska and Lilly Staniford, the latter showing great pace and strength to get round the defence to make the scores 17-5.
Ampthill were now getting the better of Rushden in the loose and were playing all the phase rugby and just reward was another try for Lilly to end the half 29-10.
Ampthill started the second half brightly with Sofia Kruszewska crashing over to make it 29-15.
Rushden then came back into the game and stretched the scores out to 48-15 but the Lionesses never dropped their heads and finished the game strongly with Charlotte “Mona Lott” Saunders crashing over from close range to finish the game 48-20.
Really proud of this bunch of Ladies who never gave up and had it not been for 3 kick and chase tries (with Rushden getting the bounce of the ball each time) the score would have been much more reflective of the game.
The Lionesses back row worked tirelessly in defence all day and carried hard in attack and player of the match could have been given to several players, however it had to go to Lilly Staniford for her ever willingness to carry the ball in attack and her tenacious defence (including several turnovers!)
