West Norfolk ladies enjoy home comforts

West Norfolk Ladies maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a powerful display at home to Lakenham.It had been three months since the team had played at Gatehouse Lane but they were out of the block like rockets.Head coach Jane Middleton-Jones was delighted with the performance, saying: “It’s a bit bonkers really.”Top of the league, top try scorer and top overall point scorer.”We worked them hard this week to get back to basics and have fun doing it, and I think you can see by their faces that this one felt special.”Within five minutes of kick-off, the league’s top try scorer Megan Burroughs opened her tally with a blistering run from her own half to score under the posts, neatly converted by the league’s top point scorer, full-back Jade Nicholson.Lakenham immediately showed their increased resilience and bounced straight back quickly to score, putting both teams on the board. West regrouped and went back to basics, with the forwards driving down the middle of the pitch and the backs moving the ball wide. Strong runs by number 8 Poppy Wakefield and Flanker Freya Gracie made big gains for the home team and on 17 minutes, Wakefield powered over the line.This kicked off a golden five minutes for West, with a try apiece for scrum-half Amber Wadlow and Gracie; Nicholson then converting all three.West continued to dominate but Lakenham competed well at the breakdown, applying some pressure. However, they were not able to keep up with the pace of West, enabling front-row Cora Hunter to break through their line and run in her first score under the posts.Nicholson slotted the conversion over the sticks and West went into the break 33-5 ahead. From the restart, West continued where they left off and it was Burroughs who crossed the line for the first try of the half, with Nicholson converting.Handling errors denied West the chance to score a couple of tries, but their presence in the Lakenham 22-yard zone was unwavering and the opponents could only resist for so long. Once again, it was Wakefield who powered through to score.West momentarily lost their grip on the game and gave away three unnecessary penalties in quick succession, enabling Lakenham to make ground through their sniping full-back, weaving through a slow-to-retreat defence to get their second try.But captain EJ Watson gathered the squad and refocused them, immediately returning with attacking pressure through Hunter making another massive breakthrough run, only to be stopped by a last-gasp tackle a few yards out.The ever-reliable Ruth Denham recycled and scored under the posts once more and Nicholson stepped up to successfully convert – much to the rapturous celebration from her teammates and spectators as she hit 100 points for the season. One more try for Gracie and another conversion for Nicholson gave West a well-deserved first home win of 2025, in this, the Club’s Centenary Year.Next up for the side is an away trip to Crusaders on February 9 before a huge home game against Colchester on February 23.Back of the Match: Jade Nicholson, sponsored by Ardonagh Advisory.Forward of the Match: Freya Gracie: (available to sponsor).