NORTH Tamworth Bears finished with a flurry to claim a grand final berth and continue their unbeaten league-tag season with a major semi-final win over Dungowan at Jack Woolaston Oval.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bears led Dungowan 6-4 at halftime but turned that into a 36-4 win with a dominant second half.
The Bears had started the game well and led 6-0 after just two minutes when Leica Le Brocq threw a dummy and raced 20 minutes to score.
It was the first of her two tries on a day where she starred and had a hand in three or four other tries.
Read also:
Dungowan's lone try was a Jamie Blacker four-pointer in the corner after 15 minutes.
"We came back well midway through the first half," Dungowan coach Luke Taylor said.
"And we started the second half well but that 40-20 broke our will a bit."
The 40-20 he was talking about came off Kimberley Resch's boot nine minutes into the second half. Four tackles later, Resch stepped her way over for the first of two neat, close-range tries from the fullback.
They scored three more tries in the next eight minutes to seal the game, Le Brocq, Holly Bynge and then Resch crossing for a 32-4 lead.
They completed the scoring when Le Brocq engineered a try on the short blind side for her sister Kate Ferguson.
"They were just too fast and quick for us across the park," Taylor continued.
"We defended well but there were a couple of little things that went against us."
He thought Hope Martin, Brianna Trickett and Paris Knox were outstanding.
Norths had a host of good players with Le Brocq, Steph Halpin and Resch leading the way for co-coaches Jake McManus and James Cooper.
"We put ourselves under a lot of pressure in the first half," Cooper said. "Dropped the ball and gave away a couple of penalties, dropped the ball again and they scored."
North Tamworth 36 (Leica Le Brocq 2, Kimberley Resch 2, Steph Fulwood, Holly Bynge, Kate Ferguson tries; Resch 4 goals) d Dungowan 4 (Jamie Blackler try)
