SHE knows the battle for this Saturday’s NSW Country Rugby Union Women’s Championship crown will be intense, but Central West scrumhalf Mandy Scott is determined that she and her fellow Blue Bullettes will make their presence felt.
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It will be the second time this season Scott has pulled on Central West jumper, having skippered the women’s sevens side at Warren late last month. While the Blue Bullettes went through their pool games undefeated in that championship, they eventually had to settle for fourth place.
The Bathurst Bulldogs talent impressed enough to be named in the NSW Country sevens merit side, but missing out on the title at Warren has further fuelled Scott’s desire to do better this Saturday at Campbelltown.
“We were unlucky at Warren. There were some good competitors there and I’d say a majority of them will be backing up again for 15s as well,” she said.
“But we know what is out there now, we know what we need to work towards and hopefully we can get a few wins under our belt.”
Joining Scott for the NSW Country Rugby Union Women’s Championship at Campbelltown are fellow Bathurst Bulldogs Alyza Doulis and Melissa Waterford – who also formed part of the sevens squad - plus Marita Shoulders, Edwina Ulberg.
Teagan Miller, who played sevens for New England but is registered with Bathurst Bulldogs, has also been selected.
Waterford (lock) and Shoulders (number 8) will join Scott in the Bullettes’ forward pack while Doulis is set to start in the centres. Both Ulberg and Miller have been named on the bench.
Aside from Central West, the battle for NSW Country glory on Saturday will involve representative teams from Illawarra, Hunter and Mid North Coast. Games will be played over 40 minutes.
“What they’re actually doing is a round-robin, so we go down, play everybody and whoever wins the most games on the day is the overall winner,” Scott explained.
“You do get pretty fatigued playing so many games … so I think given that, a round robin is the best option for the day.”
As the five-times defending champions, Hunter is likely to provide Central West’s stiffest opposition on Saturday. Scott also rates Illawarra, while Mid North Coast beat the Bullettes in their sevens semi-final at Warren. It means any win will be hard earned.
“Hunter and Illawarra will be our biggest rivals. Hunter took it out last year and we came third,” Scott said.
“But it’s pretty much a brand new Central West side this year. Because we’ve had more teams come into our comp now we have the Amanda Ferguson Cup, we now play the likes of West Wyalong, Temora, Harden and Cootamundra have put in a side too.
“It means we’ve been able to select new players from those teams who are good quality.
“It puts us in pretty good contention for this weekend, our fitness is up there. Most of our Bulldogs ladies, we have been training since late January, so our fitness is quite good.
“I know the rest of the girls are rugby smart and read to go. We’ll be doing Central West proud I believe.”
Central West faces Mid North Coast in its tournament opener at 10.45am.