Ladies make it a centenary double for West Norfolk

Undefeated West Norfolk Warriors Ladies followed in the footsteps of the men by wrapping up the Women’s NC2 Midlands (East) League title in fine fashion.The senior women’s squad capped a fantastic campaign in fine style by defeating a resilient Southwold outfit 42-17 at Gatehouse Lane – two weeks after the men had secured Counties 2 Eastern Counties League success on the same turf.It’s the first time in the club’s history that both senior sides have achieved the feat in what is the club’s centenary season.Club coach Jane Middleton-Jones said: “It’s amazing, it has been quite a remarkable year. I think it started when we won the Norfolk Cup last year.”We knew coming into our centenary year that we had to be laser-focused when we got together in pre-season. This was the goal, and we’ve delivered.”Being undefeated is just the cherry on top of the cake. I think we had a tough year last year. It hardened us up and we thought if we can get through that and we can win the Norfolk Cup, we could take this league on.”We came back into Eastern Counties wanted to make a statement and we’ve focused on that every single week. “We’ve trained throughout the summer, didn’t have a week off, and we were ready for the first game, which was against Southwold. It was lovely to finish the season against them as well because they’re a great team.” The ladies coach believes the strength in depth of the squad and fierce competition for places only aided the club’s quest for success.”People say you’ve got these great players, and we have got some exceptional players, but what we’ve proven is that we’ve got depth in our squad,” she said.”When those players went off on tour or they’re appearing at different competitions, we still kept winning. “I think that was important just for the morale of the team and the confidence and we just showed that everyone can step up.”We drilled everyone in all the positions, and we’ve got great strength across the whole squad, so they’ve been awesome.” Middleton-Jones revealed that the club’s centenary year was the added inspiration for success on the pitch this term.”I think it’s been the motivation of it being our centenary year, and we’ve gone toe-to-toe against the men,” she said. “Every week, I’d get a message from Jamie (Williamson) or Jack (Wicks), and we were ping-ponging between us.”I think we wanted to win, and we wanted the men to win so that we could give back to the club.”It motivated us to win, and we took that into training. We took that into the drills, and everyone was just focused.”It’s healthy competition. Everyone’s feeling awesome, and it has been just a great year. It’s just to watch the guys pick up the trophy a couple of weeks ago gave us that final push, you know, to win it today.”West Norfolk scored six tries, with Cora Hunter bagging two and Poppy Wakefield, Jade Nicholson, Ruth Denham and Amber Wadlow registering the others.Nicholson was exemplary with her boot, kicking all six conversions.Third-placed Southwold scored perhaps the try of the afternoon with one player sprinting the full length of the pitch for their first. The visitors refused to cave in against a well-drilled West Norfolk side by scoring two more unconverted tries in the final 15 minutes.”We knew we’d have a decent crowd down here, and we knew the boys were coming to watch,” added Middleton Jones.”We wanted to put on a show and to score a lot of tries, just like we do.”I said to the girls before the game this is no different. This is like the first game of the season again; you’ve got to go out and play our rugby, pass the ball, move it around, and score tries, and that’s exactly what they did.” The coach revealed that becoming involved with the club after Covid has changed her life for the better.”I think coming out of Covid everything sort of changed,” she said.”I think people needed to find new hobbies and things to enjoy, and finding West Norfolk has been amazing for me.”It’s given me a new focus. I love these girls. I think you do become a bit of a mum, a bit of a mentor, but mostly you’re just mates with them. “They are your second family. My two daughters play with me, and I feel like all of these girls are super special, so I’m delighted for them.”It’s been a long time building, and I finally feel that West Norfolk’s getting the recognition it deserves. I’m just privileged to work with them.”More in Friday’s paper..