Lincoln Ladies 2nd XV had a breakthrough game at the final Inner Warrior Series match of the season at Gainsborough, which ended in a fantastic 31-0 win.

Seven Lincoln players joined players from Gainsborough, Grimsby and Southwell to make up two teams for what proved to be a fantastic game for Lincoln.

The Lincoln/Gainsborough squad recorded their first victory of the season against a Southwell side that had beaten them three times during the Inner Warrior Series.

Bella Podrick, playing at centre, opened the scoring after 10 minutes after some excellent pressure by the LinGa forwards and multiple phases of play. Bella ran onto a pass 15 metres out and slipped two tacklers on her way to dotting down under the posts.

Cindy Coleburt, who was playing in her first ever game of rugby, was already producing a player of the match performance when she ran onto a pass from Bella on the Southwell 10 metre line. She broke through two tacklers and then sprinted away from the cover defence, before beating the full-back to score under the posts.

Cindy then back this up with a brilliant solo try from the half-way line. Taking the ball 20 metres in field, she then worked to find the edge and handed off two Southwell players. She then set off on her way down the five metre channel, again beating the full-back and scoring wide out on the right.

The scoring was finished off by Gainsborough full-back Izzy P who grabbed a brace of tries, as well as slotting over three conversions.

After the match Lincoln Ladies Head Coach Brian Kelly said: “All the players were excellent with notable performances from Lily Lamplugh who, playing for Southwell, stopped several Gainsborough attacks with some really strong tackling on the wing, Suzanne Money who constantly disrupted the Southwell attacks with more excellent defence, and Lucie Hutchinson playing at scrum-half after taking up rugby three months ago.

“Bella, Cindy, Lily, Suzanne, Faye (Barnes), Ruth (Rawlings) and Lucie all did Lincoln Ladies proud with outstanding performances. Topped off with Cindy getting Player of the Match in her very first game.

“It’s an exciting time for Lincoln Ladies, having a second team is essential, both to supporting the first team on the verge of promotion to Champ rugby and for the growth of the women’s game in Lincolnshire.

“It’s amazing to see the ladies develop during the course of the season and it’s clear there are some future stars in the squad.”

Lincoln Ladies 2nd XV Coach Hev Lamming said: "The Ladies second team has grown and developed over the course of the Inner Warrior Series.

"Some of the ladies who have come along to try rugby have thoroughly enjoyed it, made new friends and been welcomed into the wider club community. It's been amazing to see these women grow into rugby players.

"The season has gone very well for Lincoln Ladies second team."

Not only has this been a fantastic season for senior ladies rugby at Lincoln, but the club’s Girls Under-14s - the Valkyries - ran out 36-19 winners against Ilkeston Impalas to win the NLD Bowl on International Women’s Day last month.

The Ladies and Girls coaches at Lincoln are immensely proud of the progress made this season.