In mainly dry but windy conditions the women on both sides put all their effort into this thrilling match and as the home coach said afterwards, "That was the toughest match we've had this season!".

Warriors started well and within 3 minutes attacked Iceni and, despite stout defence, moved the ball swiftly to the left for their wing to score a converted try. Iceni restarted and, following a turnover of the hosts' scrum, moved the ball to right wing Beth Philpott who scored an unconverted try in the corner.

Back came the Warriors and pressed forward into Iceni's red zone. Their heavy pack turned over a Colchester scrum and moved the ball wide for their second try. Their fullback was an excellent kicker and she converted again making the score 14-5.

There followed 10 minutes of hard rugby with the referee from Eastern Counties keeping strict control over play. Up until this moment the Warriors backs' defence had seemed unassailable but Iceni's right wing Beth Philpott surged through a gap and fed scrum half Jess Brennan, who touched down bringing the scores close at 14-10.

Warriors restarted and before long moved forward into Iceni's red zone earning a scrum 5 metres out. The ball was moved rapidly to the left for the wing to score a try which for once the fullback failed to convert.

Soon half time arrived with the score at 19-10 and Jade Seal was substituted into the forwards in place of Laura Hammond.

Again Warriors started proceedings well in the 2nd half as their centre galloped over within a few minutes for a converted try. Back came the Iceni from the kick off and soon were putiing pressure on the home try line. Good work by the forwards drove the ball over but Maddy was held up. Warriors kick cleared their 22 but went into the hands of centre Lucy Philpott who surged over to score a fine try making it 26-15.

Later in this pulsating game flanker Kat Richardson grabbed the ball from a maul, moved it to fly half Emma Goate who scooted through the defence to score 26-20 As the clock ran down Warriors’ forwards turned over a scrum on Iceni''s 22 metre line, the ball was moved swiftly through their backs and their outside centre dashed under the posts for the final score.

Coach Clarice commented, “This was a really good game, the toughest of the season. The Iceni never dropped their heads and played right to the end.”

Post match the Iceni were obviously a bit down but coach Danny Whiteman reminded them that they were playing a Papa John cup match next Sunday at home and that this Norfolk match was good preparation for that. A special mention went to Emma Connell and her performance in only her second rugby game.

Player of the Match was Kat Richardson, Under the Radar award went to newcomer Emma Connell and Chop of the Day was awarded to Jess Brennan.