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Buy photos » Jo Hart drives Camp Hill chargers forward on Saturday. (s)

Camp Hill Chargers 48 Birkenhead Park 7

RFUW Championship North One

CHARGERS overcame a sluggish start to power to a bonus point victory against Birkenhead Park on Sunday.

Spending a lot of the first half on the back foot, Camps fell behind when Birkenhead’s right winger showed great pace to charge over for a converted try.

Finding themselves in the unfamiliar position of being behind, Camps were in need of some inspiration and got it when quick hands freed full back Jo Kilby to tear through the defence and go in under the posts, giving Becci Lewis a simple conversion.

Camps finished the half the stronger and ensured they went in 14-7 ahead thanks to Charlotte Hewer’s converted try, following good work from Jo Hart.

Determined to start the second half on the front foot, Camps came out refocussed and never looked back once the whistle sounded, running in six tries and 34 unanswered points.

Damaging work from Lucy Pollard, Antoinette Morgan and Leanne Ashworth on her 100th appearance got Camps moving in the right direction and Lewis and Steph Church found their way over the whitewash to make it 26-7 with the help of a conversion.

With Birkenhead beginning to tire, Camps stepped up through the gears and went further clear with two tries from left wing Claire Rylance.

Williams then grabbed her second score in as many games before Church closed out proceedings, throwing her trade-mark dummy to outsmart Park’s over-committed defence.

Chargers travel to league leaders Waterloo on Sunday in what is unequivocally the championship decider.

A bonus point win against Park was necessary in order to keep Chargers within touching distance of the division’s summit, but what was of more value was the response to pressure that came from a challenging opening 40 minutes - preferable to a whitewash of a game in preparation there is no doubt.

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