On a damp, soggy Sunday afternoon, Belfast Harlequins, sponsored by Charles Hurst Citroën, hosted Randalstown for the inaugural fixture in the newly branded ReJenerate Cup!

Report courtesy of Jen Goodall (Belfast Harlequins)

In a tit-for-tat affair with both sides camped in between the 22s for the first 20 minutes, this game was never going to be one sided! Excellent sniping runs from the Quins scrum half Alex Hutchinson forged the team forward and along with the link up between fly half Shel Laffin and 12 Mollie Copeland, the back line where able to get the distribution going, however Randalstown were always quick to clamp down on any developing moves which frustrated the home side!

The stalemate broke however when debutant Erin Bennett crashed over off a cheeky pick and go at the base of a ruck on the 5m line to score a 5 pointer before the break, conversion went begging and the half time scoreline remained 5-0 to the home side!

Second half saw a resurgence from Randalstown who put the pressure on through some good offloading in the tackle and piercing runs through the middle, but they were never able to truly capitalise on the ground gained with ruck General, Laura Johnson (capt) putting in a massive work rate at the break down turning over ball!

Big carries from Alex Clyde and Leigh Mallon meant the Randalstown defence had plenty of work to do, however they produced excellent cover defence when winger Emma Morrow was just snuffed out at the last meter!

It didn’t take long to seal the deal however as Hutchinson crashed over (after 2 held up attempts) for the crucial score taking it to 10-0 … and a cheeky last minute penalty by Laffin put some icing on the cake!

Final score: Belfast Harlequins 13 Randalstown 0

An exciting game for all there present and a great way to kick off the league for Harlequins who face local rivals Lisburn away on the 29th of January!

Gallery Below

Pictures below from Bob Given Photography. 

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