Quins took their time to settle into the game after missing the opportunity to play the previous weekend when Medway conceded the fixture. The Quins defence held out throughout the first 20 minutes, but Hove then mauled their way close to the try line and broke through the fringe defence for the opening score. Just five minutes later, Hove's second try came from a break down the wing against a scattered Quins defence.

The Ladies fought back with full back Kate Sinfield dashing towards the line. Hove stole possession, but then knocked-on to give Quins the scrum. Vicky Gallagher picked up at the back of the set-piece, but was held up just a metre short. Hove then added three points to their tally courtesy of a penalty awarded in front of the posts. Another strong Hove attack from the re-start saw several missed tackles from Quins and another try for the home team.

The second half saw a much stronger performance with the Ladies finally putting Hove under some pressure. The home side kicked themselves out of trouble and a strong chase set-up their final try. Quins now began to make better use of their own kicking game and kept Hove in their own twenty-two for the last 20 minutes of the game. The final few minutes saw Quins drive agonisingly close to the line, but fail to score.

Whilst disappointed to come away with a defeat, the Ladies can take positives from the hard work in the scrums by the forwards and the more creative running by the backs in the second half, as they prepare for their next league game away to Wimbledon on Sunday 10th October.

Captain's Comments

Hove's forwards proved to be a real test for our pack, and with us giving away a considerable height and weight advantage, we needed to commit higher numbers at the breakdowns than we would of liked.

We lacked cohesion as a team and will focus on this in training this week. When we did begin to work to our game plan in the second half, we fared considerably better. We came very close to scoring on a couple of occasions, which would have given us the lift we needed.

Whilst we saw some good individual work, we need to concentrate on better positioning in contact and re-focus on our game plan. I do believe that we can come back from this defeat and are confident that our league points will start to increase.

Vicky Gallagher
Harlequin Ladies First XV Captain