It’s not often when a team scores six tries that three points kicked via a penalty is seen as one of the most important moments of the match.
However, that was the case for Watsonians at the weekend on Silver Saturday when stand-off April McKenzie, later named Player of the Match, did just that to give them a 39-24 lead over Hillhead Jordanhill in the Sarah Beaney Cup final at Murrayfield.
The three points put the Edinburgh side 15 points ahead which meant that, even with Glasgow outfit Hills’ late fightback thanks to two converted tries they still lost out by a point 39-38 to their Premiership rivals.
This was Watsonians third time winning this trophy on the spin and their fourth time out of five and captain Rachel Law, the full-back, said: “We were calm in that moment and we decided to take the three points on offer because we know that Hills are a team that will keep coming at you and coming at you.
“People might have thought that we had quite a comfortable lead and should have kept going to try to score more tries, but we knew that a 15-point gap would be handy at that late stage and thankfully it proved to be correct.
“To win the cup for a third year in a row is really special and the whole squad has worked hard for this during the season.”
Watsonians got off to a flying start when centre Briar McNamara set up Phaedra Snailham, the winger, for an unconverted try out wide.
Hills responded in the 17th minute when winger Beth Tobin scored a five-pointer of her own.
Watsonians took a more direct route to the line for their second try, loosehead prop Ailie Tucker crashing over to make it 10-5.
That was in the 23rd minute and, seven minutes later, things got better for the Edinburgh outfit when McNamara added their third try. McKenzie converted and it was 17-5.
A fourth try would come Watsonians way in the 38th minute through Snailham and they had a 22-5 lead at the break.
Hills needed to get off to a strong start to the second half and they did when replacement Carla McDonald scored a try.
That was in the 41st minute to make it 22-10, but it was 29-10 after 49 minutes when winger Ami Conchie went over in the corner for Watsonians and McKenzie nailed an excellent conversion from out wide.
Hills are never a side that lies down easily though and back-row Debbie Lee powered over for a try converted by stand-off Millie Warren.
Watsonians opened up a 19-point lead soon after again though when, after McKenzie had gone close, scrum-half Mary Nelson went over for their sixth try. McKenzie converted and it was 36-17.
McDonald was then yellow carded for Hillhead with 18 minutes to go, but when she was off, the Glasgow side scored a cracking try when full-back Roma Fraser picked up a loose ball and ran in from her own half. Warren converted for 36-24.
With McDonald back on, Fraser was then red carded after a head-on-head clash with Law in a tackle and, soon after, McKenzie kicked the aforementioned penalty to give them a 15-point cushion.
And, as mentioned, they needed it because two late tries for Hills from captain Kate Yeomans, the No.8, and her back-row buddy Jasmine Hall, both converted by Warren, finished things off at 39-38.
Highlights are available here.
Remember that Dalkeith won the Bowl, Wigtownshire won the Shield and Annan won the Plate.
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Watsonians are pictured celebrating – thanks to N50 Photography
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