Lincoln Ladies suffered their first league defeat of the season in a 60-12 defeat at Bedford, but they showed great resilience against the unbeaten league leaders.

Captain Nicole Allison and Izzy Atkinson both scored tries for Lincoln and Lorna Mckinlay slotted over one conversion.

Katharine Simpson, Claire Cranfield and Jodie Mallard grabbed a brace of tries apiece for Bedford, who are also competing in Championship 2 for the very first time. Lauren Freeman, Elin Crabb and Alivia Usher-Harris each scored one try and Lucy Middleton added seven conversions and a penalty.

It took just three minutes for the first score of the match as a kick through was chased by the Bedford winger who scored a try in the corner before Middleton added a penalty soon after.

Bedford were more clinical with their chances and added a further four tries in the first half to open up a 36-0 lead going in at the break.

Lincoln did have a couple of decent periods of play in the first half though and they put pressure not their opponents when the hosts lost a player to the sin bin for a high tackle. Bedford’s defence stayed strong to keep Lincoln out and in one of their spells in the 22, the visitors unfortunately dropped the ball.

Lincoln made some good breaks in the second half, but after a knock-on and resulting scrum, Bedford made great yards which led to their next try.

There was some good back and forth play by both sides and Lincoln had a great chance when they broke through in the middle of the pitch. Unfortunately, a poor offload was picked up by the opposition before they later charged down a kick to run in for a try.

Lincoln were resilient and held their own at times, but a combination of good attacking by Bedford and the visitors putting too much pressure on themselves led to the home team scoring a further two tries.

Lincoln refused to give up and were determined to get on the scoresheet. After nicking the ball on the halfway line, it went quickly through the hands to Shannon Pasotti, who broke down the five-metre channel.

 Pasotti ran through the winger and, as she got to the full-back, she offloaded for Atkinson to run in for a try five metres to the left-hand side of the posts. Mckinlay added the extras.

After a good period of play by Lincoln, they managed to run out of their own 22 and into the opposition 22. Although Bedford managed to steal a lineout, Lincoln won possession back and broke down the left wing before one of the opposition players was penalised for being offside at a ruck.

From the resulting penalty, Allison took a quick tap to dive over for an unconverted try.

Lincoln will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they host Bridgnorth Women on Sunday, November 1, 2026.

POST MATCH COMMENTS

After the match Lincoln Ladies 1st XV Head Coach Brian Kelly said: “After an excellent start to the season, we came up against a well-organised Bedford team who had attacking threats all across their back line.

“The girls took some time to get into the game and by the time they showed what they are capable of the game was out of reach.

“They never stopped trying though, and on another day a couple of last passes going to hand end with us scoring four or five more tries.”

Lincoln Ladies captain Nicole Allison said: “We knew this league would bring challenges, we had a stormer of a season last year and we’ve definitely made our mark in the league.

“Bedford were a great test for us, to play against a well established Champ 2 team and still get 12 points was a privilege.

“It was definitely difficult, everyone worked tirelessly, even though it was quite defeating at times.

“Our defence was strong, they were just quicker to the wings and that’s definitely something we know we can work on for our home fixture against them.

“It took a while but once our momentum was going, the girls showed what we were capable of.

“I can’t wait to see what improvement we make when we welcome them at home.”