Sunday 27th October saw the mighty Black Widows host Chichester and Eastbourne in our first home game of the season. This was a landmark moment for the Widows.

Following years of hard work by everyone involved, we are back playing 15 vs 15 matches. With two key figures in Widow history (Shelley and Lou B) donning the shirt again.

Chichester and Eastbourne started strong, with wave after wave of powerful carriers, their power was on full display. However, this didn't deter the Widows - with special mention to Abby, who was on debut for the Widows, stopped their most powerful Runner dead in their tracks. Undoubtedly, Abby was inspired by our vice-captain, pack leader and fine-master, Robbo, who threw herself at absolutely everything. The introduction of Hannah brought some much-needed aggression to the Widows and the first half closed at 24-7 to the visitors.

The wise words of Coach Karen, which will be kept secret from the public, motivated the team to show the opposition the style of rugby that the Widows are capable of playing. With our ever-reliable Ellie at 10, the Widows started to dominated the game.

The pressure was relentless. Lou B, Hannah T, and Fabia's carrying started to break tackle after tackle. Which allowed Ellie and Lou B to pull the strings in the wider channels. The support from Bella, who was representing the Widows for the first time, and Shona at the ruck allowed us to continue to pressurise the oppositions.

Hannah and Lou both went over during the second half, with Hannah finishing off a wonderful team try in the corner. We could potentially consider ourselves unfortunate not to score more in the second half as we entered their opposition 22 on 12 separate occasions.

The defensive resilence in the second half would have made Shaun Edwards scribble ideas down in his notepad, such was the effort and determination to keep the oppositions scoreless. Which was the story in the second half. We out scored to opposition 10-0 in the second half.

The match ended 24-17 to Chichester and Eastbourne. Overall, it wasn't the result that we wanted but the second half performance alongside some superb individual efforts, topped off with two debuts. It is safe to say that the Widows are on the up!

Photo credit to Raegan Hodge