Corks 10-44 Pulborough
On Sunday, Corks welcomed Pulborough to The Big Field for a match that was (finally) blessed with blue skies and warm spring sunshine. In what has been a stop start season when it comes to fixtures, the Corks players were full of nervous excitement and looking forward to testing themselves against a strong outfit.
Corks started the game with real confidence and gained great field position through some fantastic interplay between the backs. This set up the opportunity for Jas Pitt-Payne to pierce through the Pulborough defensive line with a powerful run to score the first points of the day. Unfortunately, this only served to wake Pulborough up and make them aware that they were in for a mighty challenge. Corks were on the backfoot for the rest of the first half but they stayed in the fight and produced tackle after tackle but the toll of defending for large parts of the half meant that Pulborough were able to run in a few tries towards the end of the half to make the score 17-5 to the visitors.
After conceding a couple of early tries in the second half Corks managed to hold onto the ball for a period of time which allowed the team to show what they are truly capable of. After claiming a restart, the Corks team showed great continuity through dominant carries and agile offloading and moved their way into the Pulborough 22. Corks kept the ball alive and moved it out wide where Iva Hardwick was able to power over the line to score Corks second try of the afternoon.
Corks continued to front up making big tackles and not letting Pulborough have an easy ride. Despite some heroic efforts, Pulborough started to find space in the wider channels of the pitch and were able to run in a few more tries leading to a final score of 10-44 to the visiting team.
This was a step up in quality of opposition for Corks and the whole squad should be supremely proud of how they did not shy away from the challenge. The second try showed what this team is capable of and the exciting challenge of making this the standard continues at training on Wednesday. Well done to Lauren Parsons for being named Forward of the Match after making countless, dominant tackles and making considerable ground with strong carries and Caroline Court for being named Back of the Match for keeping the game flowing with great service from the ruck and fantastic tackling around the fringes. This match was another example of how this squad is growing. The character to go toe to toe with a well-established club like Pulborough for 80 minutes shows the exciting potential within this squad!
