While it wasn’t the best result for Marita Shoulders, the Bathurst Bulldogs number 8 was a part of history playing for the inaugural women’s Australian Police rugby union side on Friday.
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She played alongside Orange native and fellow Bulldogs teammate Sarah Archer, against the combined Australian Defence Force in Canberra but went down 39-10.
It was not the worst result considering it was the police side’s first match against a much more experienced defence force team at Portsea Oval, Duntroon.
Shoulders, a police officer in Bathurst alongside fellow teammate Archer, said the experience was something she’ll never forget.
“It was amazing,” she said.
“We had only been together, as a team, for four days and had home training sessions.
“We came together really well but the defence force side was a really well drilled team. They’ve been doing this now for about four years.
“But considering the girls just came together against a really strong opposition, we did really, really well.”
Constable Jasmine Benedict and Probationary Constable Aime Thomas scored for the police side.
Shoulders said it was an even better performance considering it was the team’s first game.
“We were picked on resume only, so the coaches had barely ever seen us play,” she said.
“In fact, there were some who had never played rugby before. Some had been playing rugby league before, so they did really well considering that.”
Shoulders normally plays number 8 when playing for Bathurst Bulldogs and was played out position in the tight-head prop position.
And while she was full of praise for her teammates, she was quite humble about her performance.
“I didn’t go as well as I thought I should’ve,” she said.
“I think it was because I was out of position, there was a lot of vocal, big name players in the team and probably just too much thinking.”
The police side will now break up into their respective state sides, who will go up against each other in the Australian Police National Championships in September.
From there, a spot for the Australian national side will be up for grabs, one Shoulders is keen to get her hands on.
The side selected will travel to Hong Kong in September 2019 for the International Police Championships, which will be played before the men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.