Maddie's 13-try haul leads Stratford Ladies to glory
MADDIE Rendell scored 13 tries to inspire Stratford Ladies to glory in the second North East Midlands Ladies’ Touch League tournament of the season last Sunday.
Stratford won all five games in the event, including victory over hosts Camp Hill in the final.
All ten teams from the league were registered to play in this one, so the structure was two pools of five, with the teams who topped their pool plating in the first and second place play-off.
First up for Stratford were Old Coventrians and despite some solid defence to begin with, Stratford ran in five tries. Rendell claimed a hat-trick while there were singles from captain Jane McGovern and one from Bec Charles, scoring her first competitive try.
Stratford followed it up with a 5-2 victory over Newbold Falcons thanks to scores from Rendell (4) and McGovern.
The main competition in the pool, Redditch, were up next. The first few minutes were very cautious from both sides, but Stratford opened the scoring from a lovely team move that put Rendell over.
Redditch replied, but McGovern was able to respond again and Stratford won 2-1.
The final pool game saw Stratford ease to victory over Old Laurentians. Rendell claimed another hat-trick as Stratford claimed a clean sweep in the pool matches.
Stratford faced a huge test in the final against Camp Hill.
The Black and Whites went ahead through Rendell, only for Camp Hill to respond. Rendell went over again and in the last seconds of the game it looked like Camp Hill had scored in the corner to force the draw and a drop-off.
However, Rendell had just got her fingertips to the player before she grounded the ball and the referee called a touch on the final whistle — giving Stratford the win and securing them the tournament.
Rendell was named as the player of the tournament thanks to her 13 tries and tournament-saving defence in the final.
Club training continues every Tuesday at 6.30pm at Stratford RFC, while the next tournament is at Newbold Falcons on 4th June.
