Woman and Girls Rugby
Percy Park Panthers 5 Blaydon Kites 15
Denley makes Percy Park history
A little bit of Percy Park history was made under floodlights on Friday 10 September as Percy Park RFC hosted Blaydon RFC in our first ever Woman’s competitive senior 15 a side game. And by all accounts it was a cracker.
Percy Park were led by Captain Anna Golightly as she proudly brought The Panthers side onto the hollowed turf of Preston Avenue.
For the majority of the Panthers this was their first ever contact game and whilst going down 5-15 to a strong Blaydon Kites side they came away with enormous credit.
This was a fiercely contested game with neither side taking a backwards step and the defence play of both sides were particularly well organised.
Blaydon took an early lead through Polly Westergaard-Davis before the Panthers scrum took control and provided a stream of set piece possession leading to a sustained period of pressure on the Blaydon line. Pressure which eventually saw Leonie Denley go over the line just to the left of the visitor’s posts to square the game at 5-5 and in the doing history was made!!
The score remained level until deep into the 4th quarter when a series of minor injuries took the Panthers down to 13 players and the Kites superior numbers eventually found space to allow Captain Jo Garland to force her way over to take it the score to 5-10.
A further injury took the Panthers down to 12 players and the 3 extra players allowed Blaydon to find space for a breakaway try for scrum half Meg Behan to take the final score to 5-15.
All in all a great night for both sides and another big step forward in the club’s quest to develop the women’s game not just at Percy Park but throughout the North East.
Great credit should be given to all involved who have worked phenomenally hard to achieve the goal of developing woman’s rugby at Preston Avenue. Special mention to Anna Golightly who set on the path with Percy Park stalwart Bill Dryden a few years ago to work towards that aim. Well Anna you did it!!...just remember you are owed a jug or two off the Club President
Finally a big thankyou to David Mellstrom for allowing Percy Park Panthers the use of taken photos on the night.
In the spirit of the contest The Panthers travelled to Blaydon on Friday 24th September.
Representing Percy Park RFC:
From 15: Vicky Moxom, Gabrielle Ord, Caitlin Monteath-St, Mel Smith, Rebecca Casey, Kayley Callen, and Rosie Quinn
From 8: Laura Wilkinson Anna Golightly, Sarah Jane Littlebourne, Shonie Sansom Katie Shanley, Stephanie Gicquel, Alex Gainsborough and Faye Bell,
Finishers: Maria Chisholm, Maria Bousfield, Leonie Denley, Amie Walker, Rachel White