Orange Emus and Orange City showed exactly why there's a dramatic spike in playing numbers throughout the women's rugby scene in 2021.

Friday night's Westfund Ferguson Cup derby was fast, physical and thrilling.

And even though Orange Emus held on for a 26-22 victory at Pride Park, you'd be a harsh critic to label either side a loser after such a competitive match.

There were several standouts for both squads as greens' Kiara Sullivan had her way with City's defensive line all night, while the home side's Holly Jones was downright electric, scoring a try in what might have been a woman of the match performance.

The 13-a-side contest was back and forth as each team held leads throughout the match, but it was Emus who enjoyed a four-point buffer in the dying stages.

With two minutes to go, Orange City set up camp inside Emus' five-metre line and had what felt like a dozen cracks to score.

Any coach worth listening to will tell you that defence wins premierships, and it was that attribute that proved the difference for the visitors as City knocked the ball on with just seconds remaining, giving the greens their second win of the season.

"It was awesome, it was a great game and you can see the development in Orange City and in my team, too," Emus' co-coach Jacky Lyden said.

"They're [City] going so good and their structure... they've got structure which is so nice to see."

The Lions ran in a pair of quick tries to start the night off, meaning the eventual winners had to show a tonne of composure to claw the deficit back.

"Patience was a key for us tonight," she said.

"We've always been practicing 10-a-side but because of numbers, we had the opportunity to play 13s.

"To begin with, we were struggling to get ready for that but at half-time we said we just need to be patient and drive it in the middle, and hopefully get it out to the backs and we did that which was nice."

The goal for the women is always to put as many players on the field as possible, but it wasn't until Thursday night's training session that the sides establish they'd be playing 13-a-side, as opposed to 10.

"It's been so good," she said.

"To have the opportunity to play with 13, we were excited. It makes everyone that's on the bench get time to play."

Sullivan's heroics weren't lost in the eyes of the coach and Lyden commented on the young gun's exploits in tricky conditions.

"It was nice to get her... she's got the physicality and the mentality of a ball-player," she said.

"She's very smart, can see space and can create anything."

An extremely proud Em Kennedy reflected on the outcome, suggesting her group will leave the venue with a winner's mentality.

"I don't really think we lost today... I don't think they beat us, we beat ourselves," Kennedy said.

"We made little mistakes that we're going to work towards fixing and that's what costed us the game, it wasn't them being better than us.

"Towards the end, our discipline was a bit off and everyone was just getting a bit upset."

Lions' playmaker was arguably the best player on the field that night, and Kennedy commented on what she brings to the table.

"She's unreal," she said.

"She's got a very smart rugby brain even though this is only her second year of playing. She's just all over it, she's strong, she's fast and just all over it."

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