Pirates and Inverell continue to lead the way in the inaugural Central North women’s competition with both sides posting two wins in the latest round on Saturday.
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But while the Highlanders were comfortable winners over Scone, Pirates had a tougher time of it against Gunnedah.
After coming from behind to win the first game 26-10 there was only five points in the second, Pirates prevailing 20-15.
They were missing two of their stars with Miah O’Sullivan and Phoebe McLoughlin both away with the Central North under-17s at the Country Championships, along with regular coach Andrew Bowden.
“It was a good opportunity for our girls to do it without a couple of our dominant players,” Pirates stand-in coach Stuart Prowse said.
He remarked that the Red Devils had really improved since they played them at the first gala day and said it was good to see a good tussle.
“We got off to a bit of a slow start in the first game. We were down 10-5 at half-time,” he said.
“The girls were under the pump and looked very flat.
“It was good to see how they recovered from that.”
One of the notable areas of improvement over the two games was their pressure at the ruck. The first half of the first game they were a bit standoffish, Prowse said, but by the second game they were really competing and forcing turnovers.
Rosie Ferguson and Kirby Fox both scored doubles in the second game, Ferguson showing some real toe.
But while she has got “speed to burn”, Prowse noted that Ferguson also “did some really good hard defence.” Jess Middlemiss was another standout in her last game before moving away.
At the other end of the spectrum for a couple of girls Saturday was their first run.
As was the case for the Red Devils, who were also without Piper Rankmore due to Central North duties and three other players through injury.
“Every week we’re introducing new girls into the game. Even on Saturday we had three new girls,” captain Sarah Stewart said.
They’ve now got over 20 players registered.
She said the results against the undefeated Pirates are a measure of how much the side has improved.
“We came of that field on Saturday and the positivity we had in the changerooms after, the boys actually thought we’d won,” she said.
With so many players new to the game, she said they don’t really look at the scoreboard. They look at the little things they did right.
“Each week we pick one thing to work on,” she said.
Playing only her second day of rugby, Fiona Laurie was strong for them outwide. She scored both of the Red Devils tries in the first game, and another good individual effort in the second.
It was a big weekend for Stewart and Simone Lickerish, backing up for the Central North women’s side in Newcastle on Sunday.
“Central North won two games then lost to Hunter. They obviously won the Country Championships so that was good,” Stewart said.
For both it was their first time playing for the Central North team, and a good experience.
Two of the Pirates players also had other representative sporting commitments on Sunday.
“Two of the girls are on their way over to the coast to play netball at a rep carnival,” Prowse said during half-time in the first grade fixture.
He said the support seems to be growing for the competition and the girls love it.
“They’d play five days a week if they could,” he said.
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