0 - 27

Betty Ehnvall and captain Angela Woolley in defense

On Saturday the girls were pumped and ready for their head to head with the English team, Witney Angels. The Uppsala girls had put in the effort leading up to the game and it sure showed on Saturday with their 27-0 victory over the English team. Before the game there was two things asked of the girls, the first being to switch on right from the first whistle and the second being, to do their jobs and they delivered strong on both of those.

Losing the toss they were running into a strong wind in the first half but were receiving the kick. This played into the advantage of the girls as they were keen to show what skills they had developed. The Uppsala forwards were physical and dominated the breakdowns giving the backs some good ball resulting in a try by Emelie Hellgren in the first 15 mins. Although the team was playing well and they had added another to try on the board in the first half, again from Hellgren, the strong winds were making it near impossible for clearing kicks and causing some havoc with passing, resulting in some turn overs. This made it a little hard on the backs but full credit to them as they were just as much involved in the breakdowns and securing the ball as the forwards were. It did mean a lot of the first half was played in their own half though but that didn't seem to phase Uppsala at all. Even when Witney had Uppsala camped on their try line, they went hard and low, the defense was relentless with Witney being held up over the line on one occasion. Witney were fighting hard but Uppsala weren't giving them anything and lead 10-0 into half time.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, clearing kicks now possible and passing easier, it opened the game up a bit more. The backs got to run more freely and there was some good linking with support play. Lene Lykke-Olesen had some strong runs setting Hellgren up with her hat-trick and then Hellgren taking her fourth by cleaning up after Anna Thorsell fell just short of the line. Josefin Devine was unlucky with her try being called held up. Even though the team was now out to a 23-0 lead, the girls were at times trying to do a little too much. Push passes that weren't there or were a little too excited in breakdowns and lost ball control. Maybe this was to be expected though as it was the first game of 15's and there is a good new influx of players in the squad.

All in all the team played well as a whole throughout the game, set pieces were strong with forwards stealing Witneys ball in both line outs and scrums along with backs punching through the oppositions defensive line and having good vision. The experienced players lead from the front and the rookies stepped up. The team finished strong with a try to Angela Woolley at full time making the final score 27-0 to Uppsala. A great result to have taken down an English side, in a country where the game was born and is a big part of the English culture, its truly something this Uppsala team can be proud of.

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SQUAD

1. Erika Bergvall
2. Solveig Böhme
3. Åsa Wengström
4. Maja Framming
5. Sandra Ekström
6. Angela Woolley (C)
7. Lene Lykke-Olesen
8. Josefin Devine
9. Anna Thorsell
10. Emelie Hellgren
11. Jenny Eklund
12. Johanna Boström
13. Madeleine Belin
14. Isolde Limé
15. Sara Sundler

Super bench:

Betty Ehnvall

Bonnie Petersson

Emma Holmgren

Emma Selander

Katarina Stafberg

Sarah Pontén

Stina Zetterberg

Fanny Palsander

Josefin Årling

Honorary assistant coach: Juuli Palmu