By Frank Stormont
October 3 2006

Plymouth Albion Ladies have a hard time against league leaders Clifton in sun wind and rain.  

Albion Ladies 0 Clifton 31

Albion Ladies in front of 60 supporters and three dogs took on the top of the table Clifton and managed to hold them for 40 minutes. Unfortunately it was the second half 40 and Clifton had already earned their bonus point by scoring 5 tries in the first half.

Albion kicked off into bright sunshine with a clear sky overhead and although they were in their own half for the first 15 minutes they kept Clifton out with a strong defence and the help of the referee who must have awarded half a dozen penalties in Albion's favour.  With strong winds in their faces it was difficult to get out of their own 22 and finally Clifton number 3 broke off the back of a maul to score their first points. After spending time sitting the ball on a marker cone instead of a kicking tee, when it fell off Clifton kicker took a drop kick the at goal which went wide of the posts.

On the half hour and after a number of attempts to get the ball over the Clifton line from mauls Albion were awarded a penalty on the 22 but kicking into the gusting wind the ball went wide and Clifton restart with a 22 drop out.  

When an Albion throw in went against the head in their own 22 Clifton were able to take advantage of the situation using the overlap to score on the left.  This time the drop kick attempt at a conversion was successful.0 - 12.

With a quick penalty taken Clifton put 5 more points on the board in the 37th minute of the match. Then Clifton used their opportunities well, running in a forth try when their outside centre dummied right before going left off the back of a maul to score in the corner. With 42 minutes played and the drop kick conversion made Clifton thought the half was over and some players were off the pitch when Albion attempted to take the advantage with a quick restart.  Clifton re took the advantage and their outside centre had her second try within a minute.  The conversion saw the end of the half and the end of the points scored.

Albion had held well for the majority of the first half although Clifton always seemed to have the upper hand. The 4 tries in the last 12 minutes would have demoralised most teams but Albion came out determined to get some points back.  They had the wind at their backs and when the rain started to come down they had the conditions with them.

The second half was more even with neither side really dominating the game.  Clifton's defence was impenetrable and another three attempts at getting over the line from a tap penalty were thwarted. The rest of the half was played over the whole of the pitch playing end to end there were no scores and the match finished as it had started the second half 0 - 31.

Tristan Foster, head coach, was upbeat after the match with a terrific second half performance holding top of the league Clifton. A fantastic performance considering what a whopping Clifton had given Wasps last week. "We went about our game plan very well and our organisation in defence was superb. We had a couple of opportunities that we could have taken and were unfortunate not to get a penalty try."