Cooke’s unbeaten start to the season came to an end with a 7 – 27 defeat by the Women’s All Ireland League defending champions UL Bohemians at Shaws Bridge on Saturday evening.
The result marked the end of a disappointing day for rugby in Ulster with Ulster Rugby, Ulster Women U18 as well as Cooke’s unbeaten runs all coming to an end in a matter of hours.
Cooke’s early season run had promised a more competitive match than this but the game was effectively over in the first fifteen minutes when the street wise visitors ran in three quick tries.
Bohs out-half Rachel Allen was the first to cross on the sixth minute and veteran hooker Gill Bourke crossed six minutes later to give the visitors a 10 – 0 lead. Chloe Pearse crossed for the third on the fifteen minute mark and, with Allen adding the extras, Boh’s had rattled up 17 points in as many minutes.
Cooke had had their chances, Brittany Hogan passing when it looked easier to score, but in truth the home side were struggling to cope with the power and pace of their visitors.
The Cooke management team made some changes, the most noticeable being the introduction of international Ilse van Staden, who added some much needed abrasion up front, but a late break by Edel Murphy gave Bohs a 0 – 22 lead at half time.
Cooke got their act together in a physical second half, the inclusion of Amy Graham bringing further improvement, and a powerful run by van Staden on the 50th minute ended under the posts. Jemma Jackson added the extras to give Cooke a glimmer of a chance.
However, it was the visitors who crossed next with the impressive Anna Caplice crossing for an unconverted try on the 60th minute.
It was a messy final quarter but neither side was able to trouble the scoreboard further, the game ending with a convincing 7 – 27 win for UL Bohemians.
The Bonus point win sees UL Bohemians take top spot in the league with Cooke staying in third place. Railway Unions win against Old Belvedere sees them in second place with Belvo at fourth.
Galwegians finally got their campaign underway with a Bonus point win against Blackrock and Highfield also recorded their first win of the season with a hard fought victory against Tullamore, the win seeing Highfield rocket up to fifth place in the league.
Full Women’s All Ireland results and table below:
| Sat 30th Sep | Cooke | 7 – 27 | U.L. Bohemian | Shaws Bridge |
| Sat 30th Sep | Railway Union | 18 – 12 | Old Belvedere | Park Avenue |
| Sun 1st Oct | Galwegians | 22 – 12 | Blackrock | Crowley Park |
| Sun 1st Oct | Tullamore | 15 – 20 | Highfield | Spollanstown |
| Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.L. Bohemian | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 31 | 75 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Railway Union RFC | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 199 | 17 | 182 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| Cooke | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 70 | 32 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Old Belvedere | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 43 | 53 | -10 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Highfield | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 49 | 87 | -38 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Blackrock | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 57 | 72 | -15 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Galwegians | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 119 | -92 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Tullamore | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 172 | -140 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Pictures below aren’t great but a few arty farty ones at the end 🙂
