Leicester Tigers vs Trailfinders Women

Match Report

Trailfinders Women took their Allianz PWR points tally to 18 with a thunderous 29-14 victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.

A brace from Liz Crake tries from Julia Schell and Abby Dow, and a Schell penalty gave the travelling side their third win in the league.

They move two points behind Harlequins in sixth with a game in hand on the Fellow West London outfit.

The match started slowly, with the first ten minutes featuring more kicking than usual in the Women’s game; both sides reacting to the damp Welford Road pitch, making the ball skid off the turf.

Trailfinders’ first opportunity would come 12 minutes in as Vicky Laflin broke down the right wing, only to be corralled just short of the Tiger’s line.

The home side were penalised as they scrambled to stop Trailfinders, who took the quick tap, and Crake crashed over the line to open the scoring.

The second try came just five minutes later. Laflin picked a sharp line off a scrum, breaking through untouched, and the winger fed Schell, who broke through two half tackles to score.

Trailfinders continued to dominate the play as Tigers struggled to get out of their half.

Then Trailfinders again broke through the Leicester line, held just short of the try line by the scrambling defence. However, Tigers were called for a knock-on and, due to an early shove from the home side, Trailfinders quick-tapped the free kick, and Dow finished clinically in the right corner.

Tigers answered right back through Elis Martin just two minutes later as Trailfinders momentarily took their collective feet off the gas. However, this was a minor blip.

Crake finished the second half perfectly for Trailfinders, smashing through Tigers’ wall at the end of a series of pick-and-go’s.

As a result, the teams would enter the sheds with the scoreboard reading 26-7 Trailfinders.

Despite the first half dominance of the team in purple, Leicester would be the ones to come flying out of the break.

Tahlia Brody scored just three minutes after the restart, giving Trailfinders a worrying wake-up call.

However, Trailfinders quickly took the reins back, and Schell’s right boot would widen the gap to more than two scores after eight minutes of the second term.

The away side continued to toil and had multiple opportunities to score for the rest of the second half. However, the scorers were not troubled for the remainder of the game.

As a result, Trailfinders took all of the points in what was arguably their most complete performance in their maiden Allianz PWR voyage.