Our Women’s team competed in today’s Nines festival at Victoria Park, Warrington,
Games consist of two nine minute halves, where a squad of 15 is cut-down to starting nine, but with unlimited interchanges.
Teams score four points for a try, but if grounded in the bonus zone under the sticks, five points are awarded instead.
All kicks, including restarts, are taken via a drop kick, with successful conversions still scoring two points.
We took-on London Broncos in our Group 4 opener and it was our opponents who opened the scoring with their first foray forward.
After making good metres upfield, a quick switch from left to right sent the winger bundling over in the corner. The same source almost extended the Broncos lead, but a last ditch tackle from Kelly forced a knock-on.
Morris made some good metres forward with our next attack and Simpson’s kick forced a knock-on from the Broncos backline.
Working it right, McVernon looked to burst through a gap on the right edge, but fumbled the ball in contact.
A jinking run from Simpson got the Red Devils on the front foot from the start of second-half and Myler’s kick in behind forced a drop-out.
Another knock-on gifted Broncos possession and they broke downfield, only stopped from scoring by a try-saving tackle from Simpson.
Working the ball left, Broncos created an overlap and slid over in the left corner.
There was late joy for the Red Devils, however, with some nice shape creating space for Sophie Morris to sell her marker and go under the sticks for a bonus try.
Our conversion attempt was short and the referee called full-time – with Broncos 8-5 winners.
It was a hot day in Victoria Park, with the conditions maybe perfect for rugby league, but difficult on a full size pitch, with a team of just nine.
Our final two group encounters were back-to-back against Super League opposition, Huddersfield Giants and Wigan Warriors.
The Giants started the strongest and broke down the right wing to score in the corner.
One quickly became two when some tricky play from the Giants half created some space to go over just to the left of the posts.
Myler and McVernon tried to rebuild for the Red Devils, but a knock-on allowed Huddersfield a full set just 10 out – powering over on the left edge.
Into the second-half and Amelia Brown crossed twice in the bonus zone to extend the Giants lead to 22-0 at full-time.
Our final clash was against Wigan, a team we have already faced in the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup earlier this season.
The Warriors’ Super League quality was evident from the off and two quick fire tries got them off to a flying start.
Salford hit back with Simpson capitalising on an awkward bounce to crash over, but Wigan scored a further try in the second-half to win the game 18-4.
