Plymouth Albion ladies' promotion push on course with Super victory
ALBION Ladies kept their promotion bid on course with a comprehensive win over the league's bottom side.
The city side's impressive 49-10 victory over Supermarine Ladies at Brickfields puts them in joint top position with Bristol Ladies II in Championship South West 2.
Albion entered the game full of confidence against a Supermarine side without a win this season.
The city team ran in their first try after 15 minutes, winger Sonia Clatworthy finishing off a flowing move.
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Albion's next try came less than 10 minutes later, thanks to a darting run from scrum-half Kayleigh Moore, converted by number 10 Lucy Demaine.
Supermarine responded by pinning Albion back in their own 22, but hard defensive tackling, notably by centre Helen Wilkinson, helped keep the visitors out.
The home side won their defensive line-outs, with Verity Waters and Vee Thompson stealing nearly every ball, to rob Supermarine of a sight of the Albion try-line.
Supermarine succumbed to the pace of the Albion attack, particularly winger Kezia Lee, and their frustration showed in a series of high tackles which earned them a yellow card.
Albion exploited this advantage with two more tries before half time.
A good attacking scrum saw the ball spun wide for a touchdown by outside centre Anna Clooke.
Immediately after the following kick off, Kayleigh Moore and flanker Jo Holden took the ball up the field to put Supermarine on the back foot.
Full-back Caitlin Short booted a loose ball up the pitch and won a footrace with the visitors' defence to touch down and give Albion a 22-0 half-time lead.
Albion only had to wait until two minutes into the second half to score their fifth try and earn a bonus point.
Scrum-half Moore went over for her second try, but Albion went to sleep, allowing Supermarine to score following a tap penalty close to their line.
Albion hit back, however, when Clatworthy nabbed her second try of the match.
Supermarine went a player down after one of the visitors was red-carded for a high tackle with 30 minutes to go.
Albion used the breathing space to give their replacements some match time, with prop Lucy Lane making her debut and Saskia Penrose getting more game time off the bench.
Dot Simpson and Tandi Wallace-Sims were brought into the fray on opposite wings.
Albion let through another try in the final 20 minutes after they failed to react to a penalty, but finished the game strongly.
Anna Clooke capped a good performance to score her second of the match and number eight Alison Cooper switched to centre and ran in a try under the posts from the halfway mark for Demaine to convert.
The city side has a weekend off from league duties while nine of their squad are on duty for either Cornwall or Devon.
Their next league match is at Henley on Sunday, October 28.
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