Georgie Lingham ran in three tries as West Norfolk Warriors came from behind to triumph at Stamford on Sunday.
It what was a real battle of attrition for both sides, both teams agreed to start with 13 players apiece, with Stamford ultimately dropping to 12 in the final 20 minutes.
The hosts came out of the blocks from the start and immediately took control of the game, scoring two tries within the opening 10 minutes, converting one to take the lead 12-0.
West steadied themselves and got their first points on the board with a penalty kick from Nicholson, maintaining pressure in the Stamford half but not breaking through their defence until Lingham grounded her first try of three just before half-time.
Nicholson converted once again to leave West Warriors two points behind.
Fortunately for the visitors, they dominated once again from the restart, with Nicholson showing that she can not only kick but also score tries, converting her own superb grounding that she and Sarah Hodge had created with a flawless joint passing display to take a 15-12 lead.
Stamford rallied and got a penalty to regain some ground, briefly bringing the score back to 15-15.
But in quickfire succession, West took the momentum once more and scored two further tries, one being Ella Fuller’s first-ever match score, with Nicholson converting both to pull ahead to 15-29.
Entering the final quarter of the match tensions built again, resulting in both teams being given a final warning by the referee.
This led to the home team regrouping and pushing West’s defence to get two more converted tries, levelling up with a score of 29-29.
However, the match was not over yet and, drawing deep on their reserves, West once more drove the visitors back into their 22-yard line for a further two scores, although this time both conversions were pulled wide.
West, who travel to Ashfield on Sunday, finished with a 10-point winning margin.
Forward-of-the-match: Emma-Jane Watson (c).
Back-of-the-match: Amber Wadlow.
Home team Player-of-the-match: Sarah Hodge.
