"IT'S not where we start, it's where we finish, visualise that podium finish."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was the message that CSU women's rugby 7s coach Paddy Bowen stressed to his players before they began their UniSport Australia Nationals campaign and his players clearly listened.
The side, packed full of talents from the Bathurst campus, went on the claim the gold medal with a 17-12 win over Griffith University in an extra-time thriller on the Gold Coast.
It iced what was a brilliant undefeated campaign from the side which featured Bathurst students Darcie Morrison, Claire Woolmington, Nicole Kennedy, Jacinta Cooper, Molly Kennedy and Ash Bridge as well as former Bathurst Bulldog Claudia McLaren (Wagga Wagga).
"We just kept building game after game and we were lucky enough to come away with the gold," Bowen said. "It was also about the resilience, it showed when we went into sudden death."
CSU was dominant through its pool games, conceding just one try in five matches while notching up 160 points to book a semi-final berth.
They won that 26-12 against Queensland University of Technology to set up a rematch in the decider against Griffith - the team which denied them gold 12 months earlier.
The grand final was tense and saw the rivals locked on 12-all at full-time, but a turnover on halfway led to the match winner in extra-time.
"In the past five years Charles Sturt University has won gold four times and silver once in women's rugby sevens," CSU elite athlete program co-ordinator Kate Staniforth said.
