Edinburgh University win Women’s BUCS Championship

Twickenham was treated to a try-fest yesterday afternoon in the Women’s BUCS Championship final which saw Edinburgh University defeat Northumbria 48-5 to collect the title.Scotland Women player Megan Gaffney picked up Player of the Match for her performance in the midfield, scoring a hat-trick in the process, which fellow Scotland Women player Rhona Lloyd matched.Northumbria’s only points of the game came from back-row Joanna Brown who scored a try in the final minute.Edinburgh started strong and kept possession in the first quarter, proving physical at the breakdown, and Scotland Women front-row Katie Dougan secured Edinburgh’s first try.In the 19th minute, Gaffney followed Dougan and scored her first try of the game taking the score to 0-10.Northumbria showed fighting spirit in the second quarter but struggled to finish their opportunities, but did deny Edinburgh any additional points before half-time.At the start of the second half, Northumbria looked keen to find the touchline but their discipline let them down to put Edinburgh on the front foot in the third quarter.Rhona Lloyd scored her first try in the 52nd minute after beating four defenders, and scored her second shortly after with help from Elizabeth Musgrove who provided the leg work.Captain Sarah Law, who also plays for Scotland Women, made her first conversion to give Edinburgh a 22-point lead, and the Scottish side continued to pile on the pressure to see stand-off Amy Walter also add to Edinburgh’s try tally.Law converted a further two tries, and her replacement Helena Scullion made Edinburgh’s fourth conversion, as Gaffney and Lloyd reached their hat-tricks to take Edinburgh’s score to 48-0 in the final minutes of the match.However, Northumbria’s Brown ensured her side got on the score board and burst through Edinburgh’s defence to charge straight down the pitch and get over the whitewash. This was little consolation though as they fell short in the final for a second consecutive year.Edinburgh University Head Coach Claire Cruickshank said: “Yesterday was amazing, I’m so proud of everyone involved.This has been about six seasons in the making and to see the team get the victory is absolutely overwhelming.”Assistant Coach Gordon Lyon added: “The biggest thing for me was the mentality of the players. We talked about togetherness a lot over the last few weeks and how that makes our defence solid. The girls came out today and held that line tight all match, demonstrating some cool and calm defence and taking chances to attack when we got them.Every player of the squad played a huge part and the replacements carried on the hard work when they came on. It was a pleasure to watch the hard work come to fruition with very few mistakes, and the most solid performance we have seen all season.”