High-flying Stewartry Sirens cemented their lead at the top of West division one with a thumping win over bottom placed West.
Any pre-game nerves soon disappeared with the first of ten tries coming in the second minute.
The ball was worked up the pitch to the halfway line by the forwards. Then nice handling by the backs saw Phaedra Snailham catch the West defence on their heels as she weaved her way through to score under the posts, with Lisa Ritchie landing the conversion.
With the Sirens’ pack in the mood, the second try was a carbon copy of the first with the same combination. The third came when Claire Manson gathered her own charge down to race down the touch line and score in the corner.
West gathered themselves together after that and went charging up the pitch. One too many infringements produced a yellow card warning.
The Sirens’ defence saw players clearing out rucks and stealing ball, stifling the West attack and allowing Ritchie to clear the lines with clever angled kicks, using the bounce of the 3G.
With the Sirens very much on top a contentious decision by the referee angered the travelling Stewartry support. Prop Freya Gracie on one of her trademark runs straight up the middle of the pitch was hit in a tackle with the West players shoulder making direct contact to the chin. The referee deemed it a penalty only with a warning to the offending player.
That fired up the players even more with Ali Henderson crashing over in the corner from the resulting penalty. Tries five and six followed in quick succession with the combination of Snailham and Ritchie adding the points, the Sirens going in at the break 38-0 up.
They came out with all guns blazing to get the second half under way with a quick try from Tamsin Gilston after some hard running through the west defence. A lovely chip from the half way line and an even better chase with some dribbling skills thrown in saw Claire Mason score her second.
West managed to make some ground before a high seat belt tackle saw the first yellow of the day, Snailham getting a 10 minute breather on the sideline. With the Sirens’ defence one short West found a hole and crossed the line for a try.
Not long after West were reduced to 14 after a no arms tackle.
After a bit of back and forth for 10 minutes the Sirens scored number nine.
In her last game for the Sirens before heading off to pastures new Gracie saw yellow for handling on the floor and again, with the Sirens down to 14, West scored and converted a try with the last play of the game. A great day at the office for the Sirens who are seven wins from seven and looking unstoppable on current form .
