Tweed women outclassed while Burleigh grind out win

FOR the first 15 minutes of Tweed’s inaugural South East Queensland women’s division one rugby league match, coach Kelvin Wright insists his side were the better team.

But from there, they were given a masterclass as Easts took a 34-0 Round 1 win at Langlands Park on Saturday.

Tweed’s case wasn’t helped by a string of injuries, including to captain Josina Singapu.

While Singapu’s exit was merely precautionary, there was more concern around “serious head knocks” to fullback Olivia Attenborough-Doyle and second-rower Sommer Nicholson. Neither player was required to visit hospital.

Wright is adamant the final scoreline does not accurately represent his side’s debut display, with some inconsistent periods and patchy ball control ultimately being punished.

“It was a really tough game,” he said. “We just gave them too much possession, and good ball, really. And then there was a few really opportunist tries. We’re certainly going to have to improve our completion rate. That’s a big focus because we do have some exciting players there but it is pretty hard for them if we are just coming off our tryline the whole time.”

Next up for Easts is fourtime defending premiers Burleigh, who opened their campaign with a gritty 16-12 win over Souths.

For all the fluency the Bears lacked in attack on a hot afternoon yesterday at Davies Park, they made up for it with defensive resolve.

“We made a lot of unforced errors,” Burleigh coach Tahnee Norris said.

“That’s something we really need to work on. Defensively we were really solid, which was good to see … it’s a really good sign.”