Match Report from: COLIN WARRICK

Following relegation down to West 2 last season the Warriors took to Violetbank for the season opener against Hamilton Ladies with 11 weeks hard work behind them in pre-season, determined to show that they are a better team than last seasons results showed.

Straight from the kick off the Warriors recovered the ball & went on the attack, scoring soon after with captain Ashley Clark crossing the whitewash for the first try which was duly converted by Mally McGeoch.

From the kick off the Warriors charged up the field with back rows Kayleigh Warrick & Caitlin Ritchie linking well & making 40 metres, with the ball being recycled quickly and moved wide with Ashley Cole making further yards before scrum half Niamh Ross dummied from the base of a ruck to break through and score from 40m out, try was again converted.

This was soon followed when from a turnover the ball was moved quickly to stand off Nicole Jancey who gave her customary dummy & step to beat the defence and score under the posts.

As often happens a try is followed quickly by another & again this was the case when from a tap penalty just within their own half the Warriors tapped quickly with number 8 Kayleigh bursting through the line & committing the fullback before offloading to Captain Ashley to score her second of the day.

The trend of scoring straight from a kick off continued with a score from Mally McGeoch following great runs from Stephanie McCracken and Ashley Cole.

Half time score: Annan Warriors 35 v Hamilton Ladies 0

The second half started with a bang for the Warriors when almost straight from kick off stand off Nicole JAncey scored her 2nd of the day from just inside her own half, this was followed once more by a penalty try for a high tackle in the act of scoring.

Again the Warriors continued the trend of scoring from a kick off when centre Ashley Cole caught the kick on her own twenty-two & proceeded to burst the first line of defence before racing away to score under the posts leaving the Hamilton defence in her wake.

A lull in proceedings followed with Hamilton defending well and some errors coming from the Warriors but from a quickly taken penalty the Warriors scored once ore through Niamh Ross following some great interplay from forwards & backs.

Moving into the final 5 minutes of the game Annan scored their 10th & 11th tries of the game the first from Mally McGeoch following a great counter ruck from Eilidh Jardine and interplay between backs & forwards the final try from centre Ashley Cole again following some great interplay once more.

Final score: Annan Warriors 75 v Hamilton Ladies 0

All in all a great start from the Warriors with signs of the new structure in attack & defence on show, unfortunately the result was marred by two serious injuries, the first a knee injury to flanker Caitlin Ritchie the second a shoulder injury to centre Ashley Cole both of which will see the ladies missing for a number of months, both of which were showing great form at the start of the season and will be a loss to the squad and we wish them both a speedy recovery.

In defence Ashley Cole, Kayleigh Warrick & Rhianna Parker-Clevett tackled well but Shield of the match went to Eilidh Jardine.

In attack Niamh Ross, Nicole Jancey & Stephanie McCracken shone but Sword of the match went to number 8 Kayleigh Warrick, with also a big shout to centre Mally McGeoch who kicked 10 out of 11 conversions.

The Warriors head up the road to Glasgow to visit Uddingston Ladies hoping to keep their early form going.

Annan Team: E Jardine, M Brogan, M Cother, R Parker-Clevett, J Stitt, A Clark ©, C Ritchie, K Warrick, N Ross, N Jancey, A Pattullo, M McGeoch, A Cole, S McCracken, J Haren

Replacements (all used:) J Warrick, A Clash, J Graham, K Morrison