SUPERMARINE Ladies faced Reading at the weekend in a game that proved to be the culmination of all their effort so far this season.

Before the game started Supermarine were fired up and focused after disappointing results earlier in the season, with a win needed to keep them in contention and prevent a gap opening at the bottom of the table.

Supermarine started strong, asserting their forward dominance, with a try off the back of a scrum within the first 10 minutes from Nat Williams who then converted. Strong attacking play for the following 10 minutes resulted in another try for Amy Chipperfield.

Supermarine then turned to defence and unfortunately gave away three penalties within kicking distance that allowed Reading to close the gap to 12-9, which gave Supermarine the shock that they needed to dig deep and focus on retaining the ball and maintaining their lead.

A stolen lineout provided a platform for Supermarine's Donna Martin-Mulholland to run in another try before half time, taking the score to 17-9 The second half was played primarily in the Reading 22 but strong defence from the home team meant that Supermarine were, for a long time, unable to turn position into points.

Supermarine did get over the whitewash but unfortunately the try was disallowed. However, instead of allowing their heads to drop Supermarine continued to dominate the set piece and Amy Chipperfield added a second try to her tally soon after.

Supermarine put in a determined performance for the full 80 minutes and were rewarded with a final score of 22-9.

Back of the match was scrum half Marie Barber and forward of the match went to Amy Chipperfield and Aileen Douglas.