Weight of possession proved the difference as the Cowra Eagles secured their first Blowes Clothing Cup women’s title since 2013 on Saturday afternoon, holding the Mudgee Wombats out to win 22-7.
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Played on a slushy Endeavour Oval surface, the Eagles controlled possession in stunning fashion – so much so the Wombats only had three real attacking opportunities in the game – to run in a four tries to one victory, and earn premiership glory.
“That was our plan, we knew it was going to be wet [at Endeavour] and we’ve got the Central West forward pack basically, so we wanted to keep it in the forwards,” Cowra captain Michelle Munro said.
“We executed that beautifully, then let our backs run around them out wide. We’re so excited, we choked in the semi-finals last year so this is a great way to make up for that.
“Credit to Mudgee, it’s their first year in the competition and they did really well. They’ll kill it next year.”
Wombats skipper Meg Eisenhauer cut a disappointed figure after full-time, but she was realistic about the loss.
“Cowra beat us every time we played them this year, we thought we might get an upset but oh well,” she smiled.
“It’s our first year in the competition so we’ve done pretty well.”
Cowra shot out to a 10-0 lead at half-time, which could’ve been a substantially bigger buffer considering the amount of ball and field position they had.
Simply, Mudgee couldn’t get it and when they did, Cowra immediately turned it over
That weight of possession told as Munro opened the scoring in midway through the opening half.
Tanielle Michael scored Cowra’s second not long after – one of two she crossed for – but the lack of conversions made it 10-0.
Cowra was first to score after half-time too, through Michael. With Mudgee on the attack the Eagles turned it over and Michael went 80 metres untouched to score. Sheree Logan’s conversion made it 17-0.
Mudgee hit back through Marita Shoulders – who was magnificent and duly awarded player of the match as a result – but Cowra scored again in the dying stages though Tarcia Skinner to win 22-7.
COWRA EAGLES 22 (Tanielle Michael 2, Tarcia Skinner, Michelle Munro tries; Sheree Logan conversion) def MUDGEE WOMBATS 7 (Marita Shoulders try; Toni Morse conversion)