A strong Milton Ulladulla Rugby League Football Club flavour helped NSW County overcome an arch rival on the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Cheyanne Hatch from the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs and rising local junior Keele Browne were both key members of the Women's Open Age Country side that recently played their City rivals.
READ MORE:
Keele had an on field role and Cheyanne was the team's assistant coach.
It provided to be winning combination.
Country ended City's five-year stronghold of the Harvey Norman Women's Open Age Country versus City shield, overcoming an early deficit to secure a 14-6 victory at 4 Pines Park on Saturday.
In the initial exchanges the two sides battled for the territorial advantage, with a few scoring chances on both ends, as reported by the NSWRL.
City managed to score the first try of the match and at the 12th minute mark held a 4-nil lead.
Country, slowly but surely, then started to take control of the contest.
The Country women, at the stroke of halftime, landed a crucial blow when back-rower Vanessa Foliaki crashed over under the sticks, before Kirra Dibb added the extras.
Front-rower and captain Caitlin Johnston led the way for County with plenty of strong carries.
The Country forward pack had started to gain the upper hand in the middle of the park and Johnston was later named the player of the match.
City never gave up and had a few more attacking raids before the final whistle but Country pulled out all the stops keep them at bay, earning the 14-6 win.
"I couldn't be more proud of us," Johnston said post-match.
"We worked all week for what we wanted to get out of this game, which was a win, and it definitely showed to the end. "I want to thank our staff as well for an incredible week."
Reflecting on the match, Keele Browne said it was a rewarding but "different" experience.
"It was probably the first team I have been the youngest in, so I was a little nervous at first stepping into that environment," she said.
However, Browne said that having experienced veterans by her side really helped ease her into the match.
"It always feels nice stepping onto the field with experienced players next to you," she said.
"It was great to be out there with the likes of Sammy Bremner (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks), and Vanessa Foliaki (St Marys Saints) who have a lot of experience playing at that level."
"Especially for me in that centre position, not feeling any pressure to guide the team and having them lead us was a great experience."
Browne said the quality of their training and experience as individual players helped to keep the group mentally strong even when they conceded a try early.
Keeping in their heads the length of gametime left and a focus on looking ahead to the next possession.
"We did a really good job of staying aggressive in the middle especially knowing the City team had a really strong forward pack, so to match their energy was great," she said.
"They laid the foundation for us and were the backbone to our win as their aggressiveness allowed us to get over the line."
"It was great to get the win, the Country sides are always sort of seen as underdogs so it was a very rewarding victory."