The St.George Queensland Reds have secured a convincing 54-5 win over the President’s XV in Coffs Harbour, which means the team will now contest the Buildcorp Super W final against the NSW Waratahs Women this Saturday.
The Reds outscored the President’s XV eight-tries-to-one, with Destiny Brill and Kauna Lopa both crossing twice, while vice-captain Lucy Lockhart kept the scoreboard ticking over, slotting seven-from-eight conversions.
Lopa, who starred for Queensland in their win over the Rebels, was again an attacking threat throughout the match, setting up the first try with an individual break, before offloading to Canadian backrower Carola Kreis who ran in for her first Super W try. Lockhart slotted the conversion to give the Reds an early 7-nil lead.
Brill scored the first of her brace of tries in the 14th minute, before Sunnybank’s Ivania Wong dived over in the 19th minute. Lockhart converted both conversions to give Queensland a 21-nil lead at the 20-minute-mark.
After setting up the first try of the match, Lopa crossed for her two tries before the half-time break, seeing Queensland take a 33-nil lead as the two teams headed into the sheds.
A break from Melanie Wilks led to a try for Emily Bass in the 50th minute to open the scoring in the second half, before Brill popped up out of contact and sprinted 15 metres to score her second, seeing Queensland take a 45-nil lead.
The President’s XV had plenty of impact from the reserves bench, and a cross field kick from Tylah Valance sat up perfectly for outside centre Jasmin Hurriwai, who dotted down for her team’s only try of the match.
Queensland weren’t finished however, and a break down the right flank from Kreis led to a try for University of Queensland’s Natalie Wright, her first in Super W. Lockhart sealed the score with a final conversion, stretching her team’s lead to 52-5.
Head coach Rama Chand said: “I thought today we managed to put our strongest team on the field, we played the way we wanted to and executed our game plan.
“Our goal was to improve each game, and we probably didn’t do that against the Rebels, so it was great to see the team respond and put in a performance today that puts us in good stead for a potential finals berth.
“There are still a few small areas of the game which we can improve, but full credit to the girls, the last passage of play showed the teams intent – the President’s XV had an opportunity to score but the way we scrambled in defence showed the team’s willingness to work hard for each other and that’s exactly what you want to see as a coach.
“The President’s XV had quite a few Queenslanders playing in their line-up who will be better for the experience overall so from a Queensland perspective, it was a great afternoon of Rugby with plenty of talent on show.”
The Queensland side finished top of their pool, which means they will have the chance to play the three-time champions – NSW – this Saturday for the Super W title. After the team lost to the Waratahs in Round 1, they’re hungry for the chance to turn that result around.
“We want a second crack at the Waratahs after our Round 1 loss,” said Chand.
“We can play better and today was a sign of that. We’re on the right direction now to have a competition game against them and we’re excited for the opportunity.”
The Super W final between Queensland and NSW will take place on Saturday, 3 July, and will be broadcast LIVE and ad free via Stan Sport. Kick-off TBC.
St.George Queensland Reds 54 (Brill 2, Lopa 2, Kreis, Wong, Bass, Wright tries; Lockhart 7 conv) def President’s XV 5 (Huriwai try)
