Black Panthers de-feather Thunderbirds

We took on took on the birds for our last 15's league fixture on 20th March. We were so psyched up and we wanted to win in style. Our worry was that we would put ourselves under pressure to perform well and choke instead. We started with our usual warm up of freeball that had us sweating and 'warm' (though we were nearer hot than warm). We followed that with body checking each other to make sure our shoulders were ready to make tackles and take on the big hits.

We had a few positional changes to the lineup: Brenda was starting the game at flanker away from her usual position in the centre with Prossy moving from fullback to 12. Helen (me) moved from 10 to fullback while Claire moved from number 8 to flyhalf. Aisha took Claire's place at 8. The rest of the team stayed put.

We started the game with fire with Prossy and Beatrice combining well in the centres to set up Emma and Charlotte on the wing. It was to be a good day for the pair as Emma entertained the crowd with her powerful runs combined with her trademark handoffs while Charlotte was a handful on the other wing weaving her way through the birds and playing an effective chip and chase game. Emma ruffled their feathers when she scored 10 minutes into the game and Charlotte made good with the extras. 10 minutes later Charlotte scored a try after collecting a kick put through for her but missed the conversion. We dominated possession and it looked like we were going to run away with the game. However, we did not get over the line again but instead let the birds over ours with 10 minutes left in the first half. Suddenly the Thunderbirds were back in the game. Hard tackling from the Panthers kept them out of our ingoal. The score at halftime was 12-05.

We started the second half in the same vein as the first: Emma scored twice within 15 minutes and Charlotte was successful with one of the conversions to take us up to 24 points. We relaxed and 5 minutes later the birds scored and converted to halve our lead. That rejuvenated us and we stepped up the heat. With 10 minutes of the game to go Charlotte danced her way through the birds to score her second try and Helen (me) converted it to increase our lead further. At that point the birds feathers were all but plucked out and Sylvia completed the task when she came in to replace Irene and 2 minutes later put her name on the scoresheet. The conversion was missed but the final score was 36 - 12.

The game was fantastic and everyone put in their all but Charlotte and Emma were nominated as the Black Panthers' MVPs. We are the UWRA 2010 10's and 15's champions. It's just 7's left to claim.

Next up will be internationals - Bamburi Series and Elgon Cup and then way later in the year (October I think) it will be back to club action where we will have the UWRA 7's.