Kenilworth Women showed their power and grit with a 36-28 home win over Harrogate - their first at Championship One level.

Kenilworth started the match on the back foot, after the opposition fullback fielded a kick and immediately made a 50 metre break, only for her run to be stopped with a covering tackle from second-row Selina Singleton.

This was the first sign of Harrogate's threats in the backline, who made life difficult for Kenilworth throughout the match.

The first half followed a similar pattern with two breakaway tries from Harrogate's speedy backs, but Kenilworth's pack dominated - winning multiple penalties in the scrum and at the breakdown, and scoring from two lineout drives, finished by prop Becci Lewis and hooker Kaz Harris.

Harrogate also lost one of their players to the sin bin for a high tackle on prop Aimee Dymek.

Unfortunately for Kenilworth, this, combined with injuries across Harrogate's forwards forced the referee to call uncontested scrums - a real loss for Kens as this was an area they dominated over the opening 30 minutes.

At the end of the half, another break from Harrogate's fullback allowed her to offload from the floor to the supporting 13 who scored again on the right, leaving the score 10-21 at half time.

The second half did not start well for Kenilworth when Harris pulled off a magnificent try-saving cover tackle, only to be adjudged to make contact with an opposing forward's head when clearing out the subsequent ruck.

However, fatigue and injuries started to hamper Harrogate, whereas Kenilworth grew stronger as the game went on, helped by their strong bench.

They conceded only one try in the second half - thanks to a fantastic piece of individual skill from Harrogate's 12, who fielded her own chip kick, dummied and scored under the posts - but scored four themselves - number 8 Phillippa Rawbone playing an instrumental role in all four.

She was brought down just short of the try line, allowing Lewis to pick and place the ball the extra few inches further for her second of the game.

She picked and went from the back of the scrum, feeding scrum half Ffion Davies-Cale, who in turn fixed the last defender and fed the ball to fullback Felicity Baldwin to dot down.

And Rawbone picked up two tries herself - one, driving over after patient phase play form the forwards, the other picking and driving over from the back of the scrum in the last play of the game, blasting through defenders in the process.

Fly half Katie Pittaway picked up three impressive conversions to make the final score 36-28.

Kenilworth's players of the match were second row Emma James, centre Sophie Henry and Kaz Harris.

They will take great confidence from their first league win at this level and have proven that Glasshouse Lane is a tough place for any team to travel to and win.

Their first XV play league leaders Cheltenham Tigers away next season, and their second XV have their first Midlands Development League match at home to Silhilians,