A SMALL piece of rugby history was made at the weekend when Fakenham Foxes women's rugby team staged the first ever women's league match to be played in Fakenham.

A SMALL piece of rugby history was made at the weekend when Fakenham Foxes women's rugby team staged the first ever women's league match to be played in Fakenham.

The Foxes joined the RFU's Women's East 3 League this year and are quickly discovering that competitive rugby is very different from the friendly games they have played over the past two years, writes Peter Bird.

It was the Foxes' second match of the season, having previously played Southwold away. Their opponents were Chelmsford in the RFU's Women's East 3 League and it turned into a close fought affair which, for Fakenham, did not have a fairy tale ending for they lost 8-10.

Kim Kendall suffered such a blow to the head and was taken to hospital but released shortly afterwards.

The Foxes were formed three years ago and are growing fast with senior and under-18 teams.

“We are still on a steep learning curve yet we are already competing well against good teams like Chelmsford despite 50 per cent of our players being new to the game this year,” said captain Mandy Warren, afterwards.

“Had the match not been shortened by five minutes because of Kim's injury the result could well have been different.”

The Foxes were doing most of the attacking towards the end of the game after a sloppy start to the second half and poor goal kicking had helped Chelmsford grab the lead.

As always, the club is looking for even more members, both senior and junior, to play in what is said to be the fastest growing sport in the country at the moment.

Fakenham Foxes 8, Chelmsford 10

FAKENHAM Foxes entertained last year's league runners-up Chelmsford looking to bounce back after their defeat against Southwold two weeks ago.

Fielding a full team of 15, Fakenham immediately took control and had the visitors camped in their half for the majority of the first half.

The forwards worked tirelessly in the rucks and mauls with Sam Larkin, playing only her third game at scrum- half, linking well with the backs.

Fakenham were unfortunate to not take the lead before the break after a succession of attempts, one visiting player receiving a yellow card. Half-time: 0-0.

The second half saw the home team dominate play only for Chelmsford to get two breakaway tries.

With 15 minutes remaining, Fakenham once again played some good rugby and again Chelmsford had a player

sin-binned, resulting in Stina Thorarinsson slotting over the penalty.

With time running out, and Fakenham continuing their pressure, captain Mandy Warren took a quick penalty to crash over for five points.

With only two points separating the team and only four minutes remaining, the game had to finish early after an injury. Fakenham will be disappointed with the final score, but can take many positives out of the game.

Training on Wednesday at 6.45pm will be followed by an away fixture with Thames on Sunday.