Rugby player James Price runs towards the camera with the ball while being chased by players from both teams.
James Price on the attack against Manchester. © Steve Walker

It was a positive week for the majority of Edge Hill University’s sports teams in a busy day of BUCS action.

The women’s rugby union side produced an impressive display to defeat Varsity rivals UCLAN 29-20, their first victory of the campaign, with Livvy Jessup and Katie Macdonald among the try scorers – the former crossing twice in the last 10 minutes – with Amy Sunderland kicking the remaining points. On the men’s side, the firsts were unfortunate in a hard-fought encounter, going down 24-18 to Manchester thirds.

Footballer Annabel Ainscough pulling her left leg back about to kick the ball.
Skipper Annabel Ainscough takes aim in her side’s 7-0 victory over UCFB. © Steve Walker

The women’s firsts football team got back to winning ways after cup defeat last time out, beating UCFB (Etihad) 7-0 to maintain their 100 per cent league record, but there was no such success for their male counterparts, beaten 2-1 by Chester firsts. But there was a 3-1 victory for the seconds over Manchester thirds thanks to Rustam Stephen’s thunderbolt, Lucas Bradley’s close-range strike and Will Pitt’s header.

A dominant display from the men’s firsts hockey team secured a 6-1 win over Chester firsts, with Connor Lloyd (2), Nick Fletcher, Will Bookless, James Aberley and Levente Racz on the score sheet. However, there was no such success for the women’s firsts, who were beaten 5-0 by the same opposition’s top-of-the-table female counterparts.

Hockey player Connor Lloyd lunges low to the ground past the goalie to hit the ball into the net.
Connor Lloyd scores one of his two goals in the 6-1 defeat of Chester. © Ian Shard

The men’s rugby league side could not sustain their positive start as they went down to a 46-22 loss at the hands of Leeds Beckett seconds. Tom Millington, Jacob Ashley and Jason Holland crossed in a first half which saw the Tigers leading 10-0, with the sides going in 16-16 at the break. Alas, Leeds took charge in the second, with Ben Legge’s try providing a late consolation for the Tigers, and Joe Heaton kicking the other points.

In tennis, the men’s firsts maintained their impressive form with a 5-1 defeat of Chester, while in badminton there was one win, one draw (women’s firsts v Bangor firsts) and a defeat (men’s thirds v Bangor thirds) for the teams in action, with the firsts 5-3 victors over Lancaster seconds.

Badminton player Jodie Talbot steps forward to hit the shuttlecock with her racket.
Jodie Talbot takes aim during the 4-4 draw with Bangor. © Ian Shard

In netball, there were wins for the thirds (44-34 over Manchester Met fifths) and the fourths (32-21 over UCLAN thirds), while the firsts went down 61-25 to Liverpool firsts.

In the pool, mid-November saw the swimming squad compete in their first BUCS Short Course competition of the season. Held in Sheffield, standout performances included the 4×50 women’s relay quartet of Amy Richardson – who competed in five races in total – Sydnie Bairstow, Hannah Dawson and Emily Spencer, who impressed in just missing out on a finals place in a field which included 100 teams.

Other highlights included Alana Hedges, who clocked 29.22secs in the 50m freestyle while returning male swimmer Sam Trevor completed the 100m in just over one minute. Matt Monks clocked just over 25.00secs in 50m freestyle, while Joe Green knocked four seconds off both his 100m and 200m personal best in the breast stroke.