RDVC travelled to Double Hedges for the second time this season, this time for a home game! With both teams looking for an early kick off to accommodate 6 Nations and Valentines Day Meals the match was played at Double Hedges as Peffermill was not available at midday. It may have been Valentines Day, but there was no love lost straight from the kick off between the South Edinburgh neighbours. It took only 34 seconds for Fiona Potts to make a break down the left hand side of the pitch and cross the line whilst stand off Siobhan Garner was on the end of an aggressive tackle. Potts took the conversion whilst Garner recovered at the half line but she was unsuccessful with her effort.

After 3 minutes Hannah Buchanan went over, again on the left touchline after linking up with returning cptain Fenella Johnson. This time Garner stepped up and converted the first of 3 conversions for her. Full Back Lottie Gaunt went over in 6 minutes followed shortly afterwards by prop Kirsty Fisher. Gaunt doubled her tally after 15 minutes when Garner put in a lovely miss pass to Sarah Matthews who offloaded to the supporting Gaunt on the outside. Debutant Evelyne Moisan crossed the line in 33 minutes after some good strong running and just before half time Potts got her second try of the day to turn RDVC around with a comfortable lead of 41-0.

Aside from the first 10 minutes of the match, Lismore did not resemble the side that RDVC faced early in the season, and this pattern was to continue into the second half. After 3 minutes of the 2nd half Lottie Gaunt secured her hat-trick when she burst into the line at pace and got onto the end of a well timed pass over on the right hand channel. 13 minutes later last years captain, Jenni Kenny, crossed over the try line in a similar fashion to her score against Glasgow Vets. With little chance of the points being lost coach, Eric Jones, decieded to experiment with some positional changes. Hannah Buchanan was moved into stand off with Garner moving into the centres and Evelyne Moisan took up the scrum half position whilst Potts thought she was going to get a rest out on the wing.

Having being ruled out through illness during the first half, Johnson returned to playing with a well worked try down the left hand side. Good hands from the players inside put Johnson into space and she crossed over in the left hand corner, although Garner wasn’t thanking her for the difficult kick. Lismore were becoming harder to break down and the game began to get a more physical edge to it, with Tash Riveria on the receiving end of some of it, the Hawick ‘lass managing to keep calm(ish) through a tough 15 minute spell. Sarah Chesterman and Laura Williams returned to the team today to put in good performances, and with continued work at training they should be able to fit into the squad comfortably. Bex Benson was unlucky not to get on the score sheet after going through a gap and only had to dive over and put the ball down… however, the props handling let her down at the very last moment to prevent her from getting onto the score sheet. A late substitution saw Caroline Scobie replace Chloe Wardle, who had some good carries through the match. Scobie wasted no time in trying to get involved and in 33 seconds she took one of the most unorthodox routes to the Lismore try line ever seen at Double Hedges… or Peffermill for that matter. However, it resulted in her keeping her try tally ticking over for the season. Scobie wasn’t able to add the extra points though.

Lismore fought right to the end and showed massive gains since the Teams first meeting back in early November with some hard tackles going in during the match. Lismore looked like getting over the RDVC line a few times and if they continue to progress in the same manner it will take a big effort to keep them to 0 again. RDVC however, saved the best till last. In 69 minutes some excellent handling through the backs saw the player who started off the scoring on Sunday finish it to complete her hat-trick, Fiona Potts finished off the move which saw why good accurate passing allows players to run into the gaps in front of them.
RDVC head through to Grangemouth this Sunday, kick off at 2pm.
RDVC LRFC 66- Lismore 0
Tries:
Potts (34 secs, 34, 69)
Buchanan (3)
Gaunt (6, 15, 38)
Fisher (9)
Johnson (65)
Kenny (51)
Moisan (33)
Scobie (68)
Cons:
Garner 3