Lincoln Ladies produced an excellent team performance to book their place in the NLD Women’s Cup Final with a 32-15 victory against West Bridgford.

Hannah McCabe crossed for a hat-trick of tries for Lincoln, Shannon Pasotti grabbed a brace and Emily Nelson scored one, while Lorna Mckinlay slotted over one conversion.

With Lincoln’s pitches still suffering from the recent weather, East Retford kindly offered to host the cup semi-final clash.

Lincoln started strongly and opened the scoring after just three minutes. After a lineout and maul move saw Lincoln drive forward, they soon cleared out a ruck well before the ball went through the backs and into the hands of McCabe, who ran in for an unconverted try.

Lincoln then spread the ball wide and got around the edge as they moved it from their own 22 and into the opposition 22. West Bridgford then went off their feet at a ruck and Lincoln kicked the subsequent penalty into the corner.

Although Lincoln lost the lineout and their opponents cleared the ball, they soon recycled it and went down the right-hand side of the pitch before being tackled five metres short.

West Bridgford turned over the ball and kicked clear, but Lincoln caught it and, from the resulting ruck, Mckinlay carried it forward. Mckinlay then popped off a short ball to Nelson who ran in for a try.

After attempting to run out of their own 22, Lincoln got caught offside at a ruck directly in front of the posts, and West Bridgford slotted over a penalty to cut the gap in the score to 10-3.

Lincoln put a lot of pressure on West Bridgford and stripped the ball from them at a ruck before being awarded a penalty. Hird ran really quickly and their scrum-half’s attempted tackle on her resulted in a yellow card.

After winning several penalties in a row, and taking a series of quick taps, Lincoln carried the ball over the opposition 22 and towards the five-metre line. Lincoln then shipped the ball through the hands to Pasotti, who ran in for a try in the corner, just a metre away from the touchline.

It wasn't long before Lincoln's next score. From a ruck West Bridgford kicked the ball towards the Lincoln 22, but McCabe collected it and ran around all of the opposition team to score a great try.

From the kick-off, Lincoln collected the ball and ran it in once before a brilliant clear out by Sarah Fox-Fiddes and Nayeli Dacres led to quick ball through the hands to McCabe as she was crossing the 10 metre line. McCabe then handed off one, stepped back inside, and beat all of the cover defence to go under the posts for a try and complete her hat-trick.

Mckinlay slotted over the conversion as Lincoln took a 27-3 lead in at the break.

It took 17 minutes for the first points of the second half after West Bridgford ran a maul, which Lincoln initially thought was held up, but the try was given, and converted.

Lincoln were then awarded a penalty after a high tackle from West Bridgford and ran a quick move in front of the posts. The ball ended up in the hands of Pasotti, who ran a brilliant line down the 15 metre channel and she beat four players in the corner to score a brilliant try.

Lincoln unfortunately then conceded four penalties in a row which ended up with West Bridgford camped on their five metre line. After about 10 phases of play West Bridgford eventually crashed over for an unconverted try.

In the final minute of the match, Lincoln were given a team penalty for conceding too many in a row and Clare Brooker-Brown was shown a yellow card for being off her feet at a ruck.

It didn’t affect the result though as Lincoln ran out deserved winners and they will now face either Stamford or Long Eaton in the NLD Women’s Cup Final.

POST MATCH COMMENTS

After the match Lincoln Ladies Head Coach Brian Kelly said: “We knew West Bridgford had a strong pack and some really hard running forwards.

“We talked about meeting them, keeping our line speed as high as possible, and not giving them the opportunity to run at us and it took them until 60 minutes in to start and benefit from their strong runners. By that time we were already in control.

“The ladies’ tackling and defensive organisation was perfect. I think in more favourable conditions we would have had a few more tries, but the conditions meant long periods of the game were just a dog fight in the middle of the pitch.

“A big thank you to East Retford for letting us host the game at their ground - it showed the true spirit of grassroots rugby.

“I am really proud of that performance and the girls have rightly earned their cup final.”

Lincoln Ladies captain Emily Hird said: “Great work from the girls in difficult conditions. We kept to our processes and managed to come away with a really good win.

“A massive shout out to our forwards who carried well and scrummed West Bridgford off the park at times. It gave the backs some good front foot ball to attack from.

“A great semi-final win. I am looking forward to the final to see if we can bring home some silverware.”