A game of scrums

On Sweden’s national day the ladies team marched their way down to the capital to face Exiles once again. The clouds were not the only things brewing up a storm as the team was fuelled with anticipation ahead of their second leg match, having opened the season with a strong and well-fought game a few weeks back.

The first half saw Exiles slip through and exploit gaps in the defence, despite the fantastic shift and tackles put in by Berit Küssner and Matilda Stein Åslund on the wing. Exiles managed to get points in early, but Uppsala adapted and demonstrated vast improvements in defensive structure, folding faster and increasing the pressure on receivers which lead to several dropped balls and scrums in favour of Uppsala. Alas, this was not the only source of scrummaging, as both sides had several penalties given throughout the game. With a total number of scrums possibly surpassing 30 (ask the forwards) the game was not only physically demanding but required a lot of mental grit. In a display of fire, Uppsala’s Eevi Andersson managed to break through the defence and ferociously ploughed her way over the line, showing great intensity and forward momentum whilst causing havoc for those trying to tackle her.

Siri Milde had a beautiful line break through the middle, with the crowd screaming her on from the side but unfortunately Uppsala was only able to get one try this game, despite many hand-offs and steps off the shoulder in to space. The second half saw Exiles break through several more times however, despite the persistence, Uppsala held out valiantly with fullback Ava Feghi consistently holding down the fort and commanding the fold with confidence, her ability to bounce back and overall intensity in tackling gained her Player of the Match and the new nickname “Sla-va”.

All in all, it was a tough day at the office, but the team gained some valuable insight on what to work on. Furthermore, there were many more highlights to be positive about, such as Cornelia Grillfors doing a great job playing her first senior game as 9.

Perhaps the toughest aspect of the day was the fact that this was the last game with the team for Julia Patynek and Karmen Konnapere, who will be leaving Uppsala alongside Iraide Toyos Marzo, to return to their home countries after their studies abroad. We will miss them so much and can’t wait to have them back sometime or go and visit them!

As Sla-va said “We don’t pep talk ourselves, we do it for each other” and this is the motto we took from the day.

Final score: 86-5 to Exiles

Player of the day: Ava Feghi

Dick(s) of the day: Berit Küssner and Tuva Rode