Thurrock Ladies 19, Bath Ladies 0

I ALWAYS remember the great Maggie Alphonsi coming down to Thurrock Oakfield during the Mercedes Foy era and telling me that this was by far and away, the best venue in the women's game (writes Ralph Henderson)!

Oakfield, with its new facilities is still a great bastion of the game and today's (Sunday, 13 March) visitors, the mighty Bath, were once again defeated in a wholesome, no frills contest.

Nowadays women's rugby - thanks to International tournaments, television exposure and financial investment - is a major growth industry and this top-of-the-table clash lived up to its billing!

With the match being shown live (you can watch it in full via the link above), it was great to see Bath's Jazz Swift making her debut in the commentary box and what a super job she did too!

This was to be a hard, uncompromising game with no quarter being asked or given and the spoils would go to the team prepared to "go the extra mile".

Thurrock Ladies, with that supreme team spirit and magnificent support were fortified by the leadership of India Harvey and the non-stop dynamic tackling of the whole team.

They simply play for each other and refuse to take a backward step, even under the most strenuous pressure. Harvey and Sophie Tyler are forging a great midfield partnership and even though Bath have their own outstanding pairing in Rebecca Wye and former Thurrock player, Sam Castley-MacDonald, it was a brilliant break by Tyler that brought the first score which was converted by Annelise Kerley.

Bath tried desperately to get into the game with Holly Edmonds snd Hannah Meek making inroads into the Thurrock half. Tight-head Trish Brown was enjoying clearing out the rucks and heavy-duty carrying.

As the game ebbed and flowed, the Thurrock back row of Francesca Jordan, Maddy Lockwood and player of the match, Sam Willmott were topping the tackle statistics, with Claire Phelps and Nicole Smith winning a lot of ball.

It's always good watching Claire in full-flight and throwing the occasional dummy!

Sophia John was having fun making a plethora of tackles whilst being a formidable presence with Leah Dixon.

After a series of thundering drives, the irrepressible Georgia Cook burst through a gap and deserved her Hollywood moment as Thurrock extended their lead. The ubiquitous scrum-half turned hooker was everywhere. She was taking quick taps and handing- off players to draw attention to their tardiness on retreating ten yards!

Now the half-backs, Ami Parsad and Jade Wong were beginning to control proceedings, although there wasn't much space for top scorer, Hannah Thornhill and Nikete Akintade.

As the attrition was taking its toll, both teams made a raft of changes and the accurate kicking game of Sarah Holloway and Anya Small enabled the visitors to lay siege to the Thurrock line, but the superbly marshalled defence stood firm.

Scrum-half, Emily Codd was speeding-up the game, before the excellent Holly Edmonds was forced to retire. Now Thurrock seized the opportunity to put the contest to bed!

After a series of bludgeoning runs, Sophia John was on hand for a richly deserved try to seal the victory. Hannah Duffy, Sarah Jane Earwicker, Poppy Jones, Amy Battel, Corrin Burch, Izzy Lysh and Ellie Lawther had splendid cameo roles in this epic display.

Bath had played their part in putting in a sterling shift to repel the Thurrock attack at several key points. This had been a monumental clash, with Thurrock proclaimed as the winners in front of a large home crowd.

Thurrock are now in pole position to win this season's Championship.

All that remained was for the captain to make her speech to the faithful band of followers and for the crowd to show their gratitude for an unforgiving contest.