RUGBY UNION
ORANGE Emus Chicks have stormed home to defeat the Dubbo Rhinos 28-15, forcing coach Amanda Ferguson to predict this year’s Blowes Clothing Cup women’s premiership is as wide open as she’s seen in the Central West Rugby Union.
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The Chicks were down 15-0 at half-time in their clash at Endeavour Oval, but scored four unanswered tries in the second period to announce themselves as competition contenders alongside the likes of Rhinos and big guns Cowra.
Ferguson said with back-to-back games leading into the finals, she’s hoping some solid weeks at training will help the greens push for the 2015 title.
“We’ll work hard now and put some foundations in place ahead of the semis,” Ferguson said.
A thought previously unconceivable considering the stop-start nature of the premiership.
“It is hard,” Ferguson added.
“But I think on Saturday the girls really started to click and played some good footy.
“It’s up for grabs I think. It’ll really depend on who turns up on the day.”
Starting slow as Rhinos pushed the envelope early in the piece to lead 15-0, Emus girls Jess Edwards led the comeback from five-eighth, while forwards Tiarne Parkes and Amber Willard shone in the forwards.
Played in a gala day format, competition leaders Cowra also won on Saturday courtesy of a 51-0 thrashing of the Rhinos.
With university holidays affecting numbers, the CSEwes battled to field a side and were forced into two forfeits at Endeavour Oval.
Still, Ferguson wasn’t writing off the students either.
“The other day they were leading Cowra at half-time,” she said.
“It’s very open, which is making for a good competition.”
Heading into the next round of women’s rugby, Cowra leads the competition on 25 points from five wins and five bonus points.
With identical wins to Cowra, Dubbo is in second on for-and-against while Emus sit third on 20 points with four wins and three losses. CSU Bathurst is fourth.