Warriors 2005

 

2005 Telstra Australian Women's Invitational

The ARU managed Telstra Australian Women's Invitational will once again be held in the Bledisloe Cup week in Sydney. There are eight confirmed starters including ACT, Lloyd McDermott Indigenous, NSW Country, Queensland, South Australia, Sydney White, Sydney Blue and Victoria. The comp will be held at Campbell Oval at Macquarie University in Sydney from Tuesday 9 - Sunday14 August.

Draw - South Australia

(AEST)

3.15pm, Tuesday 9 August - Lloyd McDermott Indigenous v South Australia
1.45pm, Wednesday 10 August - ACT v South Australia
3.15pm, Friday 12 August - NSW County v South Australia
Sunday 14 August - Finals

The full draw is available here:

http://www.nsw.rugby.com.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Womens_Invitational_Draw.pdf

The Team

 

News & pictures

8th August 2005

At Adelaide airport before leaving for Sydney.

 

Arriving at the Apartments

 

8th of August in Sydney.  First game tomorrow.

 

9th August 2005

The South Australian Warriors defeated the Lloyd McDermott Indigenous Development Squad in their first game of the tournament.
It was a very physical contest with many infringements at the breakdown and a series of high and/or late tackles which eventually resulted in a LMIDS player being yellow carded. The final score was 18 to 12.

The girls of SA started slowly and took some time to settle in. However, they soon got their act together and scored the first try of the game. The try was scored by Emma Yates, playing Number 8, driving over the line after a series of quick rucks and mauls. There was no other score by either team in the first half.

The Warriors scored quickly at the beginning of the second half. Rachel Stevens tackled from the kick off to LMIDS and made it to the next breakdown in time to steal the ball at the maul which was fed out wide to the backs where Lee Fata ran over her opposition to score.

The girls from SA then went to sleep for 15 minutes and allowed the LMIDS backs to score twice, once from an intercepted pass and the second time from a run through patchy defence. In between those tries the Warriors scored their third try out wide. The backline drew the inside defenders and got the ball out to Belinda Wade on the wing who scored by the corner post.

An offside penalty in front of the posts by LMIDS in the dying seconds of the game let Rebecca Derbyshire-Lloyd boot the ball over for the final 3 points of SA’s score.

Ima Pepesimi

 

9th of August

Kate Reynolds

 

Kellee Madden

Lee Fata getting smashed

Lusia Raikiwasa

Sarah Gardener throws to Zoe Woodstock

Zoe jumps

Kerry Telford

The tunnel after the win

 

10th August 2005

The SA Warriors were defeated by ACT 36 to nil. While there were some great passages of play and some strong individual games, it was overall a disappointing performance from the team, playing well beneath their potential and not to the standard of the previous game against LMIDS. Greater focus and cohesion will assist in the next game.

Gap covered

Tackled

Injured

Lineout

 

12th August 2005

The SA Warriors were soundly defeated by the tournament champions, NSW Country. The score was 60 - 0. Despite the score, the girls from SA acquitted themselves well playing their best rugby all tournament. They looked dangerous on a number of occasions and several opportunities to score slipped between their fingers. At the end of the day the Warriors were simply outclassed by a fitter, faster, stronger, very well drilled opposition.

 

Kick off

Distant lineout

Maul

Lineout

 

Article from SMH, 29 July 2005 - Australia's women rugby team revived

After slipping into oblivion, Australia's women rugby players have been resuscitated with a new coach and much-needed funding. The Wallaroos lost their Australian Rugby Union (ARU) funding in 2002 when they were downgraded from the elite program to the community rugby unit alongside school development. At the time, the ARU said, with only 1,200 female players registered, the money would be better spent at a grassroots level. But the ARU said registration numbers have now jumped to around 2,000 women and have provided funding for the Wallaroos through to 2010.

The ARU also announced the appointment of Steve Hamson as head coach of the national women's team for the 2006 IRB women's Rugby World Cup in Canada. Hamson, who was the 2003 Southern States Championship-winning coach, will be assisted by Sydney University second grade coach John Manenti. "Now that we have a national team for women to aspire to, let's hope that more women will be attracted to the game and will be encouraged to stay for longer, which is just what we need," coach Steve Hamson said. "Really, now the responsibility rests squarely with women to come and play to help us get even more funding."

Hamson said he intends to use his 35 years of coaching experience to get the Wallaroos above their fifth-place finish in the last Women's World Cup in Barcelona in 2002. "Manenti and I will be looking at players from across the country with a fresh set of eyes, so every player will have the same opportunity to push for selection as the next," he said. "I spent last year coaching in Canada, where I watched the top four women's teams - New Zealand, England, Canada and the US - complete in the Churchill Cup. "I've seen their standard of play and I know a top four finish is not out of our reach and it's exactly what we'll be aiming for," the 2003 Southern State Championship winning coach said.

Manenti and Hamson will be present at next month's ARU National Tournament to assess players before naming a training squad in September. Hamson said they will spend the next 12 months identifying the most capable squad to compete by attending club games, finals and future representative matches, including the 2006 ARU National Invitational tournament. Despite the Wallaroos' rocky past, Hamson says the future is looking a great deal brighter. "The future is now in our hands, to control and if we can put our best foot forward both on and off the field, we can play attractive football," Hamson said.

"We know we need to attract more women to the game. "If we can help in some small way as a national team, by putting a positive face out there for the right reasons, we can make those school girls who go off and play all those other sports realise there's not better choice than women's rugby."

The 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup runs from August 29 to September 18 in Edmonton, Alberta.