News of Rugby in Switzerland / Ladies : Switzerland-Monza (ITA) 7-17

Ladies : Switzerland-Monza (ITA) 7-17

On the 20th of March, a beautiful Saturday for Rugby, the best female rugby players came together from all over Switzerland in Bellinzona to play their first official game as the Swiss National Team. They met the Italian team from Monza on the pitch provided by the Rugby Club Ticino.

Although the last time this team had played XVs together (under the banner of the NSRV) was back in September, Switzerland was very awake and strong from the start. They clearly dominated the game for the first few minutes, until Monza got their game working too and put their in Italy almost legendary defense into action. The first half was quite even, with a lot of hard work for both sides. The Swiss team showed a strong defense and great support from the forwards, but wasn’t able to break through Monza’s defense. There were only a few dangerous moments close to both try lines and after 40 minutes the score was still 0:0.

When the 2nd half kicked off the Swiss girls disadvantage showed through, since they mostly play 10s in the league and are used to shorter games. Monza immediately took advantage of the momentary lack of concentration and managed to score the first try of the game. This put the Swiss team back in the game and they made a try right after the kick (by Carole Casparis), as well as the conversion (Petra Tretter). Switzerland was then leading 7:5, as the Italian girls had missed their conversion. Monza of course didn’t give up, and in a confusing moment, when they kicked the ball into the try zone without anyone expecting it and chased after it, scored again. This rather unfortunate incident damaged the Swiss team’s confidence enough to give Monza the lead for the rest of the game, resulting in another try and a score of 17:7 for Monza when the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game.

Even though Switzerland lost in the end, there was some beautiful rugby played that day, and the dedication of all our players for the game was made obvious. Apart from being extremely motivated and concentrated, the girls did some great work in supporting each other and communicating for such a young team. There is still a lack of experience in playing XVs, as sometimes it’s apparent that the players are not used to so many people on the field, but everyone is committed to make up for this in the future. All in all, we are very happy with the performance of the team in this first game.

A big thank you to the NSRV, who provided the team with shirts and other equipment as well as to Matthias Herzig of the RC Ticino, who organized the pitch and food for after the game!

By Martin Pütter, Commission de Communication | Wed 14.04, 12.00 Hrs

• 1033 persons have read this article. Start a discussion

Media relating to this article :

| Share |Plus

• Return to the News about Rugby in Switzerland
• The latest official reports of the Union
• More information on next matches
• All the latest results and league tables