Women's VIIs report: 3rd place in BB7s

Arriving at Forkenbeckstrasse with enough players for nearly 2 whole squads, the drive to win was clear to see from the outset for the ladies in the Irish / Berliner Sport Club SG.

SG Irish/BSC - Hamburger RC 17 : 5

Despite some innacuracies in attack the team were able to repeatedly pressure Hamburg into mistakes with aggressive defence. Huisinga, back in the team after missing the last tournament used her pace and footwork to cross the whitewash twice, the scoreline rounded off by a trademark snipe by captain Hirschberg

SG Irish/ BSC : SG Kiel/Lübeck/Flensburg 27 : 5

The second match of the day allowed the SG to show off their attacking prowess, spending the large majority of the match in their opponents half and 22 - maintaining pressure and never appearing flustered in defence. 5 Different players were able to get on the scoresheet, with most joy coming out wide where Murtagh, Huisinga and Jarsale terrorised the Kieler defence. The direct route was fruitful as well with Slobin and Hirschberg crashing through after good offloads to score. The opposing SG of Kiel/Lübeck/Flensburg had the final say with a consolation score in the dying seconds but the match had long since been put to bed.

SG Irish/ BSC : RK03 5 : 21

Changing into the Irish jerseys for the knockout matches, the SG first came up against RK03 in the semi-final. Irish drew first blood by sniping from a scum in the RK03 22. But the girls in yellow fought back strongly from the restart and wound up scoring, leading 7-5 at the break. As fatigue, and injuries took their toll, RK03 drew away in the 10th minute and wound up winning 21-7.

SG Irish/ BSC : St. Pauli 20 : 10

The bronze medal match saw the SG take on the highly rated team from Hamburg, who had come through their group only to lose in the Semi-finals to eventual champions USV Potsdam. The first half saw the SG pull out a lead however, with Huisinga again opening the scoring after excellent work out wide saw her leave her opposite number flailing in her wake. Captain Hirschberg snuck over for another score before limping off to join a worrying injury list. Despite the fatigue Irish struck again through Slobin who finished off a great move by Artalejo.

A messy second half saw the SG and Pauli trade blows, with another breakaway by Huisinga matched by a linebreak and score from the Hanseatinnen. The Irish defence was broken again, right on the final whistle with last ditch tackles from Murtagh and Dennin not enough to stop a final Pauli score in the corner. Nonetheless the strong first half showing had been enough to secure the win

After a hard game, the fans, the coaches, and the players were delighted to come away with (another piece) of silverware, and some very positive performances to go with it.

Squad:

Ziffels

Jarsale

Artalejo

Ruf

Murtagh

Hirschberg (c)

Huisinga

Slobin

Dennin

Nelikolaeva

Carron

Canil

Player of the Day: Hirschberg