Brave Effort at Barnsley

Our second trip to Yorkshire this month proved just how important the size of the travelling squad is. The eight that made the trip across the border were eventually exposed against a home side able to field several rolling subs in the 7s match that was played.
The strength of our small squad was evident however in the early exchanges which led to two rapid tries as Manchester threatened to take a stranglehold on the game. As half time approached, the five tries to two lead that had been built up looked healthy. However an injury to Izzy Worsley made a huge difference when she was unable to take any further part, leaving her team mates to fight a rearguard action against fresher legs throughout the second half. A second casualty was Libby Finn and with two out of eight sidelined, Manchester although stretched continued to battle hard.
As the Manchester players tired and Barnsley players were replaced, the match opened up considerably. This made defending more and more difficult for the visitors, allowing the Barnsley girls to find gaps so that they were able to overturn their half time deficit. The match finished at 55-35 to our hosts, with Manchester being denied even the minus 15-point losing bonus that the travelling party richly deserved.
We commence our home programme next week when we hope to field a strong squad to build on the one-win-one-defeat start to our season. The first two results were very much influenced by player availability so the support of all is expected and needed v Tyldsley on Halloween.