Hannah Smith showed brother Matt that he is not going to have a monopoly on the rugby plaudits directed towards the family when she scored two tries for Hillhead/Jordanhill – including the crucial winner – in Saturday’s Sarah Beaney Cup Final success over Murrayfield Wanderers. That haul matched the brace her younger sibling scored on his third competitive outing for Glasgow Warriors against Zebre eight days earlier.
“He wasn’t at the game today – he was playing golf – priorities,” she laughed, before focussing on how her team managed to break the habit of the previous two years by claiming a cup final victory over their arch rivals.
“It was pretty nerve-racking at times, especially in the second half when we lost it at each other a little bit, but the leaders in the team like Louise [McMillan], Jade [Konkel] and Ally [Cook] got us back on the right page and we dealt with the problems that came up pretty well after that,” she reflected.
Wanderers raced into an early lead with a Lisa Martin penalty and a Jennifer Cram try, but Hillhead/Jordanhill bounced back in spectacular style with Smith and her centre partner Abi Evans cutting great swathes through midfield. Smith grabbed the first of her two touchdowns and then played a key role in the creation of two for Evans.
Wanderers dominated the third quarter and recovered the lead with two more Martin penalties and a try from Eilidh Sinclair, but Hillhead/Jordanhill dug deep, and given the way she had played during the previous 77 minutes it was no surprise that Smith was the player who eventually managed to break clear and claim a deserved victory for the team from the west.
“We just had to rejig there at the end. The forwards did really well to get us some quick ball and that really helped us get that try which we needed, and then we managed to keep them at bay for the next two minutes, which was very nerve-racking,” said Smith.
Wanderers came into this game as favourites having already pipped Hillhead/Jordanhill to the Women’s Premiership title this season, but struggled to cope with the intensity of their opponents.
“It is very disappointing. The Hillhead/Jordanhilll girls played with more passion and heart than our team across the 80 minutes. It is hard to put your finger on why that was the case. As much as there are internationalists all across our team, they are very young and very inexperienced and I suspect they are going to learn a lot from this – you can’t just wait for the person next to you to do something special,” said losing head coach Rhona Shepherd.
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