St.George Queensland Reds head coach Moana Virtue has named her side for their Super W opener against the Rugby WA Women in Perth this Saturday, 22 February.
The side boasts a wealth of experience, with nine capped Wallaroos in the team, as well as New Zealand international Lavinia Gould and Jillaroo Zahara Temara.
In the forwards, an all-Wallaroo tight-five will feature in the starting XV, as well as blindside flanker Shannon Mato. Openside flanker Natassja Purontakanen and Number 8 Okeroa Manihera are both in-line for their Queensland and Super W debuts. For Purontakanen, her debut has been a long time coming, after suffering an ACL injury just weeks before the 2019 season opener.
Temara is set to play her first Super W game since the 2018 grand final at flyhalf, seeing Gould shift to inside centre. Gould will form a new look centre combination with regular winger Alana Elisaia, who will shift into the 13 jersey. Halfback Ayane Hirata will make her starting debut.
In the outside backs, former Rugby WA flyer Courtney Hodder, who was a star for WA in the first season of Super W, will make her comeback from a long injury layoff at fullback. She’ll be joined by wingers Emily Bass and Lori Cramer (captain).
In the reserves, Sunnybank’s Lesa Kaleti Mataafa and Wests’ Maraea Tupai are both in line for their potential debuts.
New recruit Hasting Leiataua was ruled unavailable for selection, as an ACL injury sustained in last weekend’s trial game against the Fijiana has ruled her out for the remainder of the Super W season.
Head coach Moana Virtue said: “We’ve put together a really strong squad for our first match of the competition.
“We have a mix of girls with plenty of experience at both state and international level, as well as newcomers who have performed well at club level and during pre-season.
“The return of some of our backs from NRLW and Aussie 7s duties is timely, as the loss of Hastings is unfortunate. Thankfully we have some depth in the squad and have all been training together as a group since November last year.
“Rugby WA are coming off the back of a tough loss in ACT so they’ll be hungry for a win at home this weekend, we’ll have to be prepared for a hard match up in the west.”
The match between the Queensland Reds and Rugby WA will kick-off at 6:00pm AEST at the Success Regional Sporting Facility in Perth, and will be broadcast via Rugby.com.au or Kayo.
