The clouds were a darker shade of grey and the away game was over an hour away from Bristol and as the Athena's arrived at Drybrook Rugby Club the rain began to fall. The Athena's were aware that this fixture last season saw the Athena's well beaten. The girls started their warm up routine and went through their drills, buoyant that this wasn't to be a repeat of last year.

As the minutes passed the rain became heavier and heavier and as the game kicked off it was apparent that this match was likely to be won or lost in the forwards section.

After a strong and spirited start to the match the Athena's found themselves succumbing to the Drybrook dominance at the break down and phase after phase Drybrook advanced up the pitch breaching the Athena defence 3 times in the first 3rd taking the score to 17 to nil (missing two conversions). The Athena's were not playing poorly by any stretch, they were just unable to keep the well drilled Drybrook team at bay.

As the 20 minute 3rd was coming to an end however, the Athena's rallied and the forward unit began turning the tables on Drybrook and after some excellent ball retention and line breaks the Athena's span the ball out to the backs who scored twice in quick succession to finish the first 3rd 17-14 (converting both tries). Tries from Romilly Langdon and Iris Greenwood respectively. The game was most definitely on!

Alas it looked like it wasn't going to be as within only a few minutes of the re-start Drybrook scored again and after converting, the scores were 24-14. The Athena's dug deep and after camping out on the Drybrook try line they had a try disallowed for being short off the line. More sustained pressure by the Athena's saw the ball recycled to Phoebe Marsh who dotted down between the posts and after conversion the score were 24-21. A brilliant solo effort by Emily Barnston, jinking through players and breaking tackles and having the stamina to fend off the Drybrook players took the score to 24-28 (Emily converting her own try).

The whistle went and the parents thought the Athena's had pulled of a brilliant comeback win only for the referee to say they planned on playing another 20 minutes but this time with contested scrums and the Drybrook team making a whole host of substitutions compared to the Athena's one sub (game changer).

The Athena's had given everything in the first 40 minutes and they just didn't have much left in the tanks to compete and Drybrook ran in 4 more tries in this 3rd. The match ended 44-28. It was a real shame and not especially reflective of the competitive nature in which the game was played. The rain really didn't affect the girls performance with the backs as equally involved as the forwards. The Athena's had put in a real shift and were clearly exhausted. Special mention to Emily Barnston who was Back of the game, Scarlett Bryant who was Forward of the game and Iris Greenwood who made the tackle of the day.

1. Amelia Greenwood
2. Abi Harding
3. Ava Westwood
4. Summer Currey
5. Tierah Reilly
6. Nyla O'Loughlin
7. Romilly Langdon
8. Scarlett Bryant
9. Dominique Downie
10. Iris Greenwood
11. Abi Smith
12. Emily Barnston
13. Lily Williams
14. Sasha Beresford
15. Hana Black
16. Phoebe Marsh