Vagabonds women beat Eccles 22-7 to record their first win of the season in Women’s NC2 North (South) on Saturday. 

Centre Jules Harrison marked her return from a maternity break with two tries. 

Eccles took the lead after only 10 minutes. Hard carrying by Lydia Elstone and Siobhan Mullen had created excellent field position and it was number eight Rosie Hoyle who crashed over to score the opener. Lucy Mills converted and Eccles were 7-0 ahead. 

Vagas replied within five minutes though. Sophie Henry and Maylynn Campbell were making the hard yards and their running not only set up good field position but it also stretched the defence, with Campbell in particular attracting as many as four defenders with every carry.  

Eccles finally ran out of defenders and Harrison touched down wide on the right for her first of the game. 

On the half-hour mark Vagas were able to dish out more of the same. Campbell made three or four carries in the move which finally cracked the defence sufficiently for Becky Dunne to dive through and score which left Vagas ahead 10-7 at half-time. 

Two technical yellows for Vagas in the second half seriously stymied the attack and left Vagas with 13 players for a spell. They were able to hold their defensive shape though and, by the time they’d returned to full strength, there had been no additional scores.  

Once at full strength back up to 15, it was time for Campbell to really show her class and she ran in from around 40 metres to score a well-taken solo try. 

With just over five minutes to play, Harrison rounded off her return with a short trundle into score and Sammie Macdonald converted to leave Vagas 22-7 to the good and claim the win. 

DAVE CHRISTIAN