Albéitar snatch hard-fought win over El Salvador in Valladolid

Grupo Hedisa Rugby Albéitar claimed an important bonus-point win over in-form El Salvador in Pepe Rojo Fields yesterday to regain the top spot in Castilla y León. The women in red showed great composure to withstand what threatened to be a local comeback in the second half after leading 0-17 after 45 minutes and responded with two late tries that secured the victory in a nail-biting clash played in awful conditions. The home side heavy pack was kept under control by the visitors, who dominated possession and territory during the first spell of the game. Albéitar's backs eclipsed their counterparts and only some handling mistakes close from the opponents' try line prevented Albéitar to score a deserved try in the first twenty minutes. Credit to some massive defensive efforts by the locals, too, who showed grit and spirit and tried to use their go-forward power at every chance and forced a yellow card when Albéitar's flanker Ari collapsed a rolling maul in midfield. Right after that moment, however, Albéitar regained possession of the ball and moved the ball quickly to allow winger Polo to score the first try of the game. The tourists smelt blood and launched an onslaught on El Salvador's twenty-two, forcing the locals to give away penalties that ended with a local player sent to the sin bin and with Albéitar's centre Yess diving over the line in the next play. El Salvador began the second half trying to get back into the game but it was Albéitar's fullback Eu who showcased her great football skills to move the ball from her twenty-two into the local in-goal. She was tackled just before diving over the ball and a penalty-try was awarded. 0-17 with 45 minutes played. Heavy rain kept falling and it seemed that was all to the advantage of El Salvador, who settled in their opponents' field and started to make use of a superior scrum, well held until then by Albéitar. Local heavy forward Raquel García found a chink in Albéitar's defense and showed great pace to score near the corner. 5-17. That spurred the home side, who kept assailing the visitors' in-goal and were rewarded a penalty try at scrum time with twenty minutes to go (12-17), to the delight of the local crowd. However, the women in red showed their grit and turned the tide to take the ball to El Salvador's twenty-two, hitting high and low until flanker Raquel - outstanding all afternoon - threw a dummy and crashed near the corner for Albéitar's fourth try that secured the bonus-point and extended the lead to 10 points (12-22). After the restart, our girls secured possession and launched yet another onset on El Salvador's try-line seeking the fifth try of the game. And it was after a five metre scrum that red number eight Suari found fly-half CP, who dodged a tangle of defenders to score a deserved try. 12-27 in the end and Grupo Hedisa Rugby Albéitar leads the table with 20 points in four games. Grupo Hedisa Rugby Albéitar: Laura, Fani, Jenny, Clara, MJ, Ari, Ra, Suari, Rebe, CP, Inma, Yess, Polo, Sonia and Eu. Replacements: Camila and Andrea.