READING Abbey Nuns secured a hard-fought 19-13 derby victory at rivals Reading to move 13 points clear at the top of the South East West One table with two games remaining, writes Fiona Tomas.

The league leaders stretched their winning streak to 17 games on the bounce, but had to battle hard as clinical Reading pushed their opposition all the way.

The Nuns opened the scoring when No. 8 Hollie King picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and offloaded quickly to Annette Tomas who stormed down the blind side to score.

Despite good phase play conducted by scrum half Ellie Rice, Abbey struggled to turn pressure into points, perhaps hampered by the freezing conditions and a much changed line-up which saw Annabel Hawkins take on the kicking duties and play-maker Alice Denton rested.

Reading were a much-improved outfit from the side that were hammered 49-0 at Rose Hill back in November and thwarted the Nuns at every opportunity at the breakdown, displaying a determined attitude underlined by a series of strong ball carries in midfield.

Repeated infringements in Abbey’s 22 for offside meant that Joey Fowler was sent to the bin and the away side capitalised and crashed over the line, but the table toppers went in at half-time buoyed by a second Tomas try.

After the break Abbey started brightly but had no answers to Reading’s effective rucking, as the pace of the game slowed and further indiscipline lead to another try for the visitors which reduced the scoreline to a single point – the closest any side has come this season to leading the Nuns in a game.

Hooker Claire Stevens used all her experience to ensure Abbey’s line-outs were consistently won which allowed the home side to use the width of the pitch. A clever penalty move saw the ball worked wide before Rice and King combined to send the latter over the line. Mathematically, second-placed Newbury can still win the league but they have to secure bonus-point wins in all of their last three games, while Abbey have to lose their remaining two with no points.