It was a mixed-weather day away at Wymondham for the East Suffolk Saxons and we were half expecting to get drenched, but the rain held off for the match. The ground was soft but sandy. Our host's new home had only been there a little while so, to help with drainage, there was more sand than mud on the pitch. Knowing that this would be a difficult team to face, and a hard match to kick off the Saxon Season, the women put in all of their effort to surprise the Wymondham Bees with our spirit and style of play.

A few rules were set out before play; each side would play 14 a side and the match would be in 15 minute quarters with uncontested scrums and lineouts. However, last minute dropouts left both teams with 13 players. Around half an hour before kick-off we realised we were still down a woman. Rhi Stanners was running late and was not answering her phone so, not knowing if Rhi was on her way or just running late, we requested to go down to 12 a side to start, which our kind hosts happily obliged.

When back in the changing room before kick-off, putting on match shirts and gearing each other up, Rhi made an appearance 5 mins before the game. Quickly getting changed, she joined us on the way out to the pitch. We stayed with 12 players so that we could keep Rhi's fast-paced legs as our secret weapon.

Surprised by the baby-faced ref not even looking old enough to drive (he was 17), Captain Nat Swateridge went to do the coin toss. While the home team flipped the coin, Nat had chosen heads - winning the coin toss. Saxons started with receiving the ball, but facing the wind at the host’s choice of ends. Coach Chris was in attendance to run on water bottles and med supplies, while guest photographer Ryan Desrosiers-Whalley from https://www.desrowphotography.com/ took pictures from the sidelines (Pictures to follow soon).
After 4 training sessions together, Ipswich, Felixstowe and Aldeburgh were finding their feet and roles on the pitch in the first quarter. This allowed 3 tries to Wymondham to be conceded early on but, by the 15th minute, we had found our feet and got our heads in the game with the score sitting at 15-0 to the Bees. Realising that our opposition was essentially ignoring the blindside, we brought on Rhi, to try and pelt it down the blind, switching on for Sue Hart.

The second quarter was a tough run with the Bees hammering our defence. The Saxons’ tackling was on point, with great tackles coming in from Kirsty Johnston and Madison Strauss – saving us from several tries from being scored. By this point, we had spotted those players that had, and could, play for our opposition’s first-team and the Saxons weren't going to give them enough room to run! Eventually, we turned the ball over and the Saxons got within meters of the try line. Emma Murton was thinking she had made the try but was five meters short (wrong line mate!). The forwards were smashing it over and over to fall within a meter when we conceded a penalty for a double movement - Strauss tried to make the Try from the floor.

Towards the end of the second quarter the Bees had managed to get it out to the wing with Nat Swateridge hot in pursuit, she wrapped up their wing to take her down 10 meters from the try line – unfortunately giving herself whiplash! Seconds later, the Bees were quick on the ball but forwards Immie Smith and Madison Strauss we up at their line. Madison made a brilliant tackle on their 13, but Immie smith was there too, hitting a knee-to-face on 13 – who had to come off due to blood. Swateridge, Strauss and Smith all had injuries. With the ref hitting time off, we dropped to 11 aside. Smith and Swateridge on the bench and bringing Sue Hart back on the pitch.

The third quarter saw the Saxons on the offensive. The Saxons started with kicking to the Bees, they trucked up and handed off until it got to their wing – who was running through our players to no avail. They got to within 10 meters of our try line and that is when Kirsty Johnston made a life-saving tackle by clinging to the opposition’s shirt for dear life and saw the Bees knock it on. Off the Scrum, quick thinking from Rhi Stanners and her beautiful right boot saw a kick that pushed the Bees back 20 meters. Followed by a combination of Immie Smith and Georgia Clement's quick thinking and we were in the Bees 22 when the Bees were cautioned for a high tackle, only to do it again 2 minutes later – which gave the Saxons the penalty.

A quick pick-and-go from our 8, Immie Smith, gained us some yards. Then 9, Kel Emmerson, broke the line, running through a pack of 10 players. We kept hitting them until we were within 10 meters again, where a quick pass from Kel to Georgia saw Georgia over the line to score our first try of the season next to the posts. Ex-footballer Rhi Stanners set up the conversion and easily saw the ball through the centre of the posts giving us the conversion. The Bees used our tiredness against us and quickly retaliated with their own try – but their kicking could not match Rhi's and they missed their 4th conversion, leaving the score 20 - 7.

For the final quarter we switched out Lisa Brooker with Immie Smith, who had recovered from her cramp thanks to Coach Chris and his “magic spray”. Rhi kicked off the final quarter with a stunning kick which had the Bee's fumbling while we quickly came up as a line. The Bees turned things around and started breaking our line. Five meters from the try line Kirsty Johnson did another life-saving tackle but the Bees were playing fastball and it took two more tackles for them to see another try to the Bees 25-7.

The Bees were showing off their fitness level by this point which was a higher standard than ours (which Coach Chris has taken note of). By final whistle the Bees had scored two more tries, seeing them switch the kicker for the final kick to get them a conversion. We made it as difficult for them as we could muster and made them work for it every step of the way. Overall brilliant effort and spirit from our Saxons, but the Bees were just at a higher level of play with the score left at 37-7. Despite the loss everyone was smiles walking off the pitch.

Coach Chris skidded off with the Captain's phone while the Foward of the match, Madison Strauss, Back of the Match, Georgia Clements and Player of the Match, Rhi Stanners all received well-deserved player's pints. We knew it would be a hard match and the Bees were shocked to find that we have only had 4 training sessions as a team – with some Saxon players only having those 4 sessions before getting on the pitch for the first time. We have lots to work on but we can only be proud of the way we played and handled ourselves on the pitch.

We have a couple of weeks be to get over the aches and bruises before our next league match: ESS vs Crusaders in Aldeburgh on 20th October 2019 for a 2 pm Kick off, first game on home ground for the Saxons!