Army hold on to defeat Ferns in Cup Final
After ending the regular season in second place on the Southern Championship ladder the Golden Ferns found themselves in the Cup Final, and another shot at an Army side that was undefeated in 2025, but that had been pushed all the way by us 5 weeks earlier. After the earlier game at Lockleaze in late June it was clear that both sides would likely meet again in the final, and despite the scoreline perhaps looking like a convincing victory for the Army, both teams knew that another game would be much closer on the scoreboard. The Ferns were in fairly confident mood heading into the final, which was held at the ‘central’ location of Brentwood…
In the weeks leading up to the final the Ferns honed their skills in attack and defence, to try and give themselves the best chance of causing an upset in the biggest game of the season. Availability of players was again really strong, and the Ferns selected a full squad of 20-players, and it was arguably their strongest squad selection of the season! Two players made their debuts for the Ferns in the final – prop Bethan Smithies had recovered from injury and trained all Summer, but due to work had been unavailable for other fixtures; and Amy Cook, a Geordie who is working in Bristol, had joined the squad only a few weeks earlier.
As well as working on skills and tactics, stand-off Sarah Humphries had also raised that it was important for the Ferns to start well in the final. In the earlier league game it was the Army who came out of the blocks fastest, scoring 4 tries without reply in a devastating first half hour, that the Ferns just couldn’t recover from. But the team knew that if we could weather the early storm and get ahead ourselves, the Army wouldn’t be used to being behind.
A long bus trip to Essex, a good warm-up and a slightly delayed kick-off, but then we were off. The Ferns got the game underway, and the defensive mindset was clear to see from the first tackle. The forwards set the tone with Gabbie Collins, Chloe Fletcher and Kat Hyland putting in some solid hits and rocking the Army’s big runners. With the ball the Ferns made inroads early too – centres Ash Newbold and Daisy Pearce-Lyons were finding opportunities in the edges to supplement the forwards yardage efforts. Soon enough the Ferns got their just reward for their early pressure – Kat Hyland made a break up the right touchline before passing back inside to hooker Bobbie Jackson who sprinted fifty metres, including around the Army full-back, to score the opening try of the game. The Ferns led 4-0.
The rest of the first half was fairly even, with both sides showing some solid defence but also too many unforced errors in attack. The game felt quite stop-start, and the completion rates for both teams is probably a stat that neither want to be reminded of. Despite the game being fairly even, it was the Army who made their pressure tell, scoring 3 tries in the first half to lead at the break 4-16.
The Ferns regrouped at half-time, talked about what tweaks were required, and were ready to get back to action. The opening 15 minutes of the second half were again fairly tight with both sides showing great physicality, and the work with the ball was definitely increasing in quality. Ferns captain Jessie Hood was taking the game to the Army, and was being backed up by Jackson, Fletcher and the rest of the Ferns. Then with around 25 minutes to go the Ferns had an awesome 10 minute spell.
First it was prop Fletcher, who dummied her way through the line before steamrolling the full back. Mansell missed the tough conversion from the left – she wouldn’t have to wait long for another attempt though. Enterprising play on the left edge saw Scotland squad member Robyn Price take the ball forward before passing to Pearce-Lyons who scored in the corner. This time Mansell expertly added the extras to make the score 14-16.
The Ferns were soon back on the attack, and a great carry from Esme Bird brought the Ferns to within a few feet, and quick thinking at dummy half saw Jackson pick up and scoot over for another try, again converted by Mansell. The Ferns lead 20-16 with around 15 minutes left on the clock. It was at this point the Army made a few changes to personnel, reintroducing their powerful Fijian prop from the sidelines, and it wasn’t long until the momentum began to shift back towards the Army. The next 10 minutes belonged to the team in red, with the Ferns unable to handle everything thrown at us. The Army scored three of their own tries to lead 20-28 with 5 minutes to go.
It was going to take something special to win from here for the Ferns, but they did manage to cross for a final try – great hands on the right edge saw Mel Wilkinson, now at centre, feed winger Raph Aquilina to dot down for the final score before the whistle sounded for the end of the game. The Ferns pushed the Army all the way, but unfortunately the final score was:
Golden Ferns 24 – 28 Army
Congratulations to the Army, the most consistent team in the Southern Women’s Championship 2025 and deserved winners of the title. But huge kudos to our Ferns – it was only 2 years ago that the score line in this fixture was hugely one-sided in the Army’s favour, but the development that the Ferns have shown is hugely positive and commendable. This game was definitely a great advert for Women’s Rugby League in the South for sure!
The Army voted Ferns prop Chloe Fletcher as their player of the match, while the Ferns coaches also selected loose forward Jessie Hood and hooker Bobbie Jackson as our standouts.
Well done all – although the result didn’t go our way in the final, it draws a close to a hugely successful 2025 season. Roll on 2026!