Grand Final: Wanneroo Divas v Cottesloe at Hartfield Park 11th September 2021

TEAM

25 Raewyn Tuheke

2 Shiane Kani

3 Sera Ah-Sam

4 Jenna Jordan

5 Pareana Taitoko

6 Tamika Jones

22 Anneka Stephens

8 Rangipipi Kahui

9 Lillee Wearing

10 Macey Simpkins

11 Oklea Jones

16 Lose Halanukonuka

13 Aiysha Wigley

14 Nakaia Erceg

15 Paihau Pomare

BENCH:

7 Nechelle Montgomery

17 Megan Crosby-Ngatai

12 Trilleen Pomare

18 Dixie Jones

19 Adrienne Gloster

20 Ariana Hira

24 Tessah Roache

COACH: Junior Muna

The Wanneroo Divas shone brightly from the kick-off, with powerful drives and intelligent passing that pressured Cottesloe into conceding a penalty. The greens used their advantage to perfection, with sweet passes that they moved swiftly along the line to winger Oklea Jones. She took her opportunity well and showed Cott a clean pair of heels to open the scoring out wide. Aneka Stephens conversion slid wide.

Wanneroo Divas 5 – Cottesloe 0

Cottesloe responded almost immediately when their scrum half converted a penalty that put them on the board.

Wanneroo Divas 5 – Cottesloe 3

The Blues ran the restart ball and advanced into the Divas territory until a massive hit by Raewyn Tuheke brought them to a grinding halt. It looked like a fair, shoulder height tackle to me. Unfortunately for Raewyn and her team, the ref thought otherwise and red carded her.

Now it was an unequal, uphill battle for the Divas who had to continue one player short for the rest of the game. Cottesloe were probably expecting an easy run, but they got exactly the opposite. The Wanneroo ladies put their heads down, bums up and hurled themselves into the fray.

Both sides made repeated, determined runs but couldn’t crack the other’s defence. The play was punctuated by errors and they used up a lot of energy for little reward. It didn’t help that the refs whistle punctuated play on a regular basis. The Divas took a tight head ball from an earlier Cott scrum and they repeated their demolition job when they took another one and launched into the Blues backline. Lillee gave a ruck ball to Sera Ah-Sam who powered through several Cott defenders before laying the ball back. Wanneroo ran a couple more phases and Sera got in on the act again when she carried a pop-up ball forward before releasing it to her support. Macey Simpkins took it and put in a delightful little, cross field chip kick for her winger Nakaia Erceg. A Blue defender just beat Nakaia to the ball, but she knocked it on and Wanneroo got the scrum feed.

The Divas got pinged for dropping the scrum and Cott kicked for a line out. Their attacking opportunity was denied by Pareana Taitoko, who soared high and stole their throw in. The ball went out to the Divas backs who played smart by committing the blue defenders before moving the ball. They created an opening up the left wing and ran well until a Cott tackle slowed them. Macey changed the play by darting round the ruck to her right where her good work was continued by Lillee who weaved her way towards to the try line. She got close support from her pack who toughed it out and drove the Cottesloe pack backwards for several more phases. This superb team effort was finished off with a try by Lillee. Aiysha Wigley converted for the bonus points.

Wanneroo Divas 12 – Cottesloe 3

The game resumed with Lillee back in the action when she caught the drop out ball and ran it back at Cott. Both sides tried hard but nullified each other’s efforts with fierce ’in yer face’ tackles that created a bit of loose ball. Cott made a couple of strong runs, but the Divas were up to the task with Paihau Pomare and Macey at the fore with some punishing tackles.

HALF TIME: Wanneroo Divas 12 – Cottesloe 3

The Divas had done amazingly well with only 14 players, but it was always a case of how long could they keep it up. Tessah Roache gave an inkling of their mindset when she caught the drop out ball and launched herself straight into the Blues tackle line. Sera followed up and won a penalty that Aiysha kicked for a line out.

The Divas were playing with confidence, but probably trying too hard to compensate for being a player short and the ref’s whistle seemed to blow regularly in favour of Cott. Play was gritty and uncompromising and although Cott played some good rugby, the Divas frustrated and nullified all their attacks. Captain, Pare Taitoko, lead from the front and her troops followed without question. Cottesloe made umpteen attempts to break through, but the green wall was impregnable and eventually the Blues had to use one of their many penalties to kick for goal and get another three points.

Wanneroo Divas 12 – Cottesloe 6

Cottesloe ran the drop out ball, but a sloppy pass gave Wanneroo a scrum feed. I’m not sure what happened after the scrum, but Tamika Jones appeared to be held by a Cott player on the ground. She showed great restraint to resist the urge to clock her one, but the ref still awarded a scrum to the Blues. They maintained their all-out attack from the scrum, but great defensive work by Wanneroo kept them at bay.

Cott were clearly frustrated and threw caution to the winds by running anything and everything, but the depleted Wanneroo team’s defence was outstanding. Of necessity, they trod the fine line of offside to get their first up tackles in and blunt Cott’s attack and the ref’s whistle continued to run hot. The Divas were dealt another major setback when the ref yellow carded Ariana Hira for persistent offside. It seemed to be a case of mistaken identity because Ariana wasn’t in the breakdown that the ref penalised. The Divas were now down to 13 players.

Cott kicked for a line out on the Divas five metre line where Pare embarrassed them again with another steal. Shiane Kani crashed the ball up and earned her team a scrum feed, from which they ran four phases before giving the ball to Macey who kicked for touch to relieve the pressure. Cott attacked the Divas inside channel from the line out and recycled the ball well, but the green tackle machine wreaked havoc on their ball carriers. The ref even awarded them a rare penalty into the bargain. Macey kicked it for a line out on the halfway, where Pare gave the throw in ball to Lillee. She made a break that was followed up by Rangipipi Kahui who belted into the Cott midfield with ‘up yer bum’ support from Aiysha, Paihau and Tamika. They all ran riot and caused mayhem in the Cott defence. The Blues struggled, but eventually they managed to bring Tamika down. She laid the ball back perfectly at the ensuing breakdown, but the ref blew for a penalty to Cott. The Blues No 8 took a quick tap and go and ran into the centres where she set a good ruck ball after the tackle. Her team-mates recycled it quickly, but Wanneroo showed great tenacity to smother the play and earn a scrum feed.

Fatigue was finally catching up on the greens and they got pushed and wheeled in the scrum and the ref gave another penalty to Cott about 15 metres from the Diva’s try line. The Blues took another quick tap and go to their right, but Wanneroo’s desperate tackling forced them to change their point of attack to the left where they hit it up several more phases until their superior numbers got them to the try line. There was conjecture on whether they got over the line or not. The ref was unsighted and had to confer with the assistant ref. He then awarded a try. The touchline conversion missed.

Wanneroo Divas 12 – Cottesloe 11

Now it was on for young and old and Cott were as resurgent as Wanneroo were weary. The Blues ran hard for the try line, but Nechelle Montgomery foiled them with a magnificent tackle that forced them to change tack. They went right and were looking good again, until Trilleen Pomare came out of nowhere and put a big hit on the ball carrier. Cott retained possession but got pushed out wide where Wanneroo again stood tall and denied them space. Wanneroo were superb but copped another penalty on their own 10 metre line.

Cott’s No 8 took a quick tap and go and made a surging run for the line, sucking in green defenders as she went. She laid the ball off perfectly to her support runners who had finally managed to create an overlap against the depleted green defence. They put the ball through hands to their hooker wide out on the sideline and she finished off a very good move with a converted try. The whistle blew for no side almost immediately.

FINAL SCORE: Wanneroo Divas 12 – Cottesloe 18

What a tragedy for Wanneroo. After playing their hearts out for so long and giving everything they had, it was distressing to see what should have been a well-earned and well-deserved victory snatched from them in the final seconds of the game.

They have my total admiration for an outstanding effort that was almost a story book ending.

Well done ladies, You were inspirational.

Bill Watt