Bath beat Loughborough for the first time ever on home turf.
On Tuesday 28th April, at the ‘Real’ Varsity Match 2009, history was made at the Rec. For the first time ever Bath beat Loughborough in a rugby match, an entertaining and thrilling encounter which Bath dominated from the beginning, resulting in a 26-0 victory. The Bath team line-up was intimidating in itself with 5 England U20s internationals, 2 Senior England A players, 1 Welsh Senior international and 2 South West Senior Regional Players. Loughborough also had their fair share of international talent on show promising a match full of quality rugby, but with the home crowd support in full voice and the Bath team playing with heart and passion for the blue and yellow badge, Loughborough never stood a chance.
Bath dominated from the start, with the majority of play in Loughborough’s 22 and this early pressure quickly resulted in a 9th minute try from fly-half Sarah Holloway, converted by full-back Darel Poole. Bath continued to ask questions of Loughborough forcing them to make multiple errors. However, it wasn’t until near the half-time mark that Bath scored again through a devasting run by number 8 Nicola Hoole, who ran through the Loughborough defence to score under the posts. A successful conversion meant that Bath went into the half-time break 14-0 up. As the second half began, it was clear that Loughborough had lost heart and although they made several good attacking plays, a solid defence including several crunching tackles from Izzy Noel-Smith prevented Loughborough from putting any points on the board. Loughborough only once looked dangerously close to scoring but following an almost pitch length chase, Darel Poole, supported by two other Bath players, made a try-saving tackle, causing Loughborough to spill the ball forward. With the game beyond Loughborough’s reach, Bath’s domination was complete, adding another converted try from Nicola Hoole and a final try from Darel Poole, with Bath ending the match 26-0 victors.
The University of Bath Rugby Club is one of the few student rugby clubs in the country whose committee is joint, looking after both the men and women. UBRFC Chair, Fiona Bruce, commented, “Playing against Loughborough always instils an additional passion into any game, and the Bath girls gave everything they had in order to beat Loughborough and bring home the win for the University of Bath. I am so proud of the girl’s achievement today, it has taken a long time to reach this point and I would like to thank all those who have been involved in the team especially the coaches Jason Wheatley, Mark Hawkes and Kev Moggridge and the Bath Rugby Ladies management. I hope that, from now on, the women’s team will continue to improve and we can establish ourselves as a dominant force in University Rugby. The team’s pride and passion epitomises the spirit of UBRFC, and the students of the University Of Bath as a whole, and the Rugby Club would especially like to thank all of the blue and yellow army of supporters who came to watch the matches at the Rec.”
Captain, Caley Parnell, commented: “I am extremely proud of what the team achieved and feel honoured to have captained a team to such a momentous victory. Despite having only trained together on a couple of occasions, the team spirit and closeness displayed among the girls could not be faulted and played a key role in the win. The excitement among the team was evident from the preparation leading in to the game and when the game started it was clear to see that everyone on the Bath team wanted to be victorious much more so than did Loughborough. The immense effort shown by all the players served to display a fine example of women’s rugby. It was really special to play in front of a crowd and thanks to everyone who came down and supported. I would also like to thank all the players and coaches and especially UBRFC chair, Fiona Bruce, who made it possible for the women’s game to happen.”