York RI Ladies travelled to play the league leaders Altrincham Kersal away this weekend. Despite having to put together a last minute pack by playing several players out of position, RI started well. Altrincham made the first score and crossed the line after 5 minutes but RI fought back and quickly created space for Ruth Laybourn to cross the line and convert her try. RI kept up the pressure with good rucking and mauling from the forwards and some excellent breaks from the backs. However, they could not quite crack the organised Altrincham defence and eventually conceded a try after a break from the quick Altrincham fullback. Altrincham scored another 2 tries in the first half despite continued pressure from RI.
The second half continued in a similar way and RI never made it easy for Altrincham with some bone-crunching tackles being put in (perhaps by the promise of a pint!) but Altrincham scored 4 more tries before the end of the match to give a final score of 44-7. Not the result RI would have hoped for but it was a good team effort in difficult circumstances against a team so far unbeaten this season. A special mention should go to man-of-the match Jenny Harvey who made an outstanding move from winger to second row!