Withycombe Ladies welcomed the New Year with an outstanding 36-10 defeat of Teignmouth Ladies at Raleigh Park.

Ebony Mardle crossed the line for a tremendous hat-trick and there were further tries from captain Georgia Skelly, Charlotte Leckie and Terrianne Densham. Skelly also slotted three conversions to complete the scoring.

Leckie picked up the bubbles as Forward of the Match and was joined by Holly Thompson, who won the prize for the Backs.

It was a brilliant way to start the rugby year and much needed after the disappointment of the Withycombe men’s team being forced to cancel their scheduled trip to Barnstaple due to player availability.

On the junior side of the club, the weekend was packed with a series of matches against their counterparts from South Molton. The rugby on display was dazzling to watch and went a long way to warm the shivering spectators.