Round 7 Lionesses 2017 vs Swan Suburbs RUFC

Swan Suburbs RUFC travelled to take on Southern Lionesses in this Round 6 match. It was the second meeting of the sides in 2017.
Southern Lionesses had won the first game despite a cameo by Shanice Parker for Swan Suburbs.
Southern Lionesses were looking for a big improvement from the last round against Kalamunda.

The Lionesses took some time to get going but when they did they proved too strong for Swan Suburbs. The Lionesses were too good for Swan Suburbs in all positions and dominated for long periods. Swan played hard either side of half time but the Lionessess withstood the pressure and pulled away. Try of the Day went to Dani Parker who sprinted a massive 70m to touch down.

Southern Lions coach Kev Thornton provided the following summary of the game -

"A full turn out of players today for our home game against Swan. Sadly the opposition could only muster up 10 players so it was agreed by both teams to play a 10 a side game.

The coaches rewarded the players who attended training to take the field first.
Swan started strongly and put our girls under a lot of pressure, especially in the scrums and at the breakdown. If it wasn't for some desperate tackling the opposition could have easily scored some early tries. With some strong words of encouragement from the sideline the girls finally managed to put some phases together and hold onto the ball. This lead to some good tries and we went to the break with a good lead.

The changes were made at halftime and with a lot of players required to play in new positions it took a while for them to continue on from the first half. When we finally managed to keep our hands on the ball and string some phases together the tries started to be scored again.
Swan lost a player to injury in the second half and to try and keep the game an even contest our own Char had no hesitation to test our girls by playing with the opposition. Thanks Char.

There were still some good signs of improvement by our team, especially the new girls. Great stuff. It also showed everyone the amazing skills our Player of Day, Mahinarangi Clair has by playing in nearly every position in the back line and not looking out of place in any. Well done.

It was good to have a win and hear the Lions song sung again. If we can all make it to training and work on our combinations I am sure another one won't far away.

Again a big thanks to all our supporters who turned up today and to Danielle Bartram who taped, massaged and looked after the players bruises before and after the game."

Congratulations to the coaches and players. We know the Ladies are capable of plenty more wins this year.

Team Selection

1 Tanya Leituala
2 Char Clamp
3 Olivia Arahanga
4 Joan Piliae
5 Maria Piliae
6 Ally Reid
7 Danielle Parker
8 Mya Pena
9 Cecilia Strickland
10 Caitlin Burt-Polai
11 Alex Cimino
12 Brooke Ruru
13 Cheyenne Campbell
14 Destiny Baker
15 Mahirangi Clair
16 Mary Makai
17 Peninnah Javapro
18 Brooke Graham

C Kev Thornton / PJ Leituala

Scorers

Caitlin Burt-Polai 2 Tries and 1 Conv
Brooke Graham 2 Tries
Cheyenne Campbell 1 Try
Brooke Ruru 1 Try
Cecilia Strickland 1 Try
Danielle Parker 1 Try
Mahirangi Clair 1 Try and 1 Conv