Wandieful Start To Murrayfield Cup Campaign

The day after the Scotland men won the Calcutta Cup, and Scotland Women’s legend Heather ‘HRL Lockhart scored the first try of the Six Nations against England Women, Murrayfield Wanderers got their Cup campaign underwayThe day after the Scotland men won the Calcutta Cup, and Scotland Women’s legend Heather ‘HRL Lockhart scored the first try of the Six Nations against England Women, Murrayfield Wanderers got their Cup campaign underway. Having been given a tough time by Uni only a couple of weeks previously, Wanderers were determined to go to Peffermill and turn out an improved performance. With a few players unavailable, supercoach Jules leapt to the teams assistance, donning the number 9 jersey in the absence of Scotland starter Gilly and Under 18 star Julia. Beth Dickens helped out after her International duty the day before in the unfamiliar position of flanker, and Windae Blyth anchored the scrum at Number 8. The Wanderers got off to a dream start, with slick hands from the backs allowing Captain Zulfi, playing outside centre, to break a couple of tackles and offload to Beth the Dick, running a great support line to score. The confident start from the Wandies continued, with Amy Rennie, switching from the front row to the backrow, and Wenche, both making great ground in a number of powerful runs. Fellow forwards Rainbow and Pack Leader Beattie worked hard to support and clear out effectively over the ball, ensuring good ball for scrum half Nelly. This allowed the backline of Shep, Shanks and Zulfi to release their wide runners, with Harleysick and the actually-slightly-Green-after-her-night-out Katy Green. Both showed their superb finishing skills off, getting on the score sheet in the first half, with Harley also striking the ball for the conversions. Edinburgh Uni got close to scoring with clever kicking from fly-half Maddy Grant giving them good field position. Scrum half Leah Cuthbertson was just stopped short of the line by Nelly Retardo, who made amends for her previous forward pass to Shep who was blocking at the time, with the try saving tackle. Half-time Murrayfield Wanderers 31- Edinburgh University 0 The second half saw Edinburgh Uni up their efforts in defence, with some dedicated tackling and counter-rucking frustrating several Wanderers attacks. Jules made way for Julia at scrum half, Shorty came on at stand-off, and Amy and Beth got a rest to make way for Shona Chabal Peackock and Sarah Quick. These changes saw a re-shuffle in the backs, with hard-running winger Amanda going off, Zulfi moving back to full-back, and Harley shifting to the wing. Wanderers seemed to struggle to impose themselves immediately after the break, and much of the play took place in the middle third of the pitch, with neither team grabbing any real advantage. However, a valiant forwards efforts saw Heather Law (Yes Lana, you read that right) going over from close range to score her first ever Wandies try; greatly deserved, as she popped up round the place carrying ball and making tackles all day. Player of the match Randy Randy Randy Ruth also managed a try, in between stealing ball and generally making things hard for the other team, in what was an outstanding individual performance. Full-time Murrayfield Wanderers 43 Edinburgh Uni 0 It was a good day all round for Wandies, with the Under-18s recording a convincing 54-0 win in the semi final of the youth cup against Ayr. They join the Under-15s in the final at Murrayfield on Sunday. Scottish Youth Cup Finals, Murrayfield Stadium Sunday 16th March 2008 Under 15 Mini Wandies v Gala 11am Under 18 Mini Wandies v Melrose 1230 pm