Recap

Goulburn women’s juggernaut rolls ADFA

By PETE OLIVER

ANOTHER week, another thumping win for the Goulburn Dirty Reds Women’s side.

It’s getting hard to think of new ways to write the match reports for this group of women, who have continued to excel each week.

Saturday’s 43-5 win over the ADFA Women, in a match worth double competition points owing to an ADFA deferred game, could have been a real banana skin match for Goulburn leading into the end of the season.

The last time these two teams met, Goulburn scraped home with a 15-5 win; its tightest game of the season. But there was to be no repeat this week.

The seven-try-to-one victory means Goulburn will finish the season undefeated at Poidevin Oval, overpowering the Cadets with strong forward play.

Goulburn Rugby has a long and proud tradition of a dominant scrum, and Saturday was no exception. The Goulburn tight five constantly applied pressure to the ADFA scrum, often pushing the Cadets backwards and causing disruption at the back.

It was this dominance, along with smart play in the tight, which laid the platform for the win. Goulburn’s averaged nearly 50 points a game this year, and the scoring has been shared around.

Sass Cudaj again bagged a double, with Brumbies player Paige Penning, captain Ash Mewburn, pocket rocket Chloe Waddell, workhorse front rower Lyndal Morris and zippy replacement playmaker Elly Hazelton all crossing for five pointers.

Now, it may be a weird thing to say about a team that’s only conceded 30 points in a season, but defence looms as an issue for Goulburn girls. Too often high tackles crept up high, and it will no doubt be an area of focus at training this week.

Going into the business of the season, the Reds won’t be able to risk having any players sitting in the naughty chair during games.

But the positive has again far outweighed the negative. Mewburn again led by example, guiding her team around the park and picking up the three points.

Bella Sheen continues to be Goulburn’s most consistently excellent performer. Her breakdown work and aggression in contact saw her collect two points, while her hard-running second row partner Cudaj earned one point.

Goulburn are scheduled to head to Bungendore to take on the Mudchicks next Saturday, before a likely grand final preview against the Gungahlin Eagles on 17 August.

Goulburn Dirty Reds Women 43 (Cudaj 2, Penning, Mewburn, Waddell, Morris, Hazelton tries, Mewburn 4 conversions) defeated ADFA Women 5 (Brown try).

Photos by Pete Oliver