PORT Pirates strong grip on the Mid North Coast Women’s 10s title continued with a 36-14 win over Grafton on Saturday.
Port’s speed and physical presence out wide proved the difference between arguably the two best sides in the competition.
Although Grafton didn’t claim the ultimate spoils, they showed plenty of grit and hung in right up until the final whistle.
In previous encounters Pirates piled on plenty of points however, Grafton managed to push their rivals all the way in a high-class game.
Pirates scored six tries to Grafton’s two finding space on the edges. The mid-field battle was close and hard-fought with scrum-half Clare Gardner’s defensive efforts a highlight. Gardner was rewarded with a five-pointer after brilliant lead up which saw the ball pass through several sets of hands.
Redmen score-trying machine Yuri McHugh scored a trademark runaway try and landed two conversions.
There were concerns for McHugh late in the game when she suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury. Hopefully the star centre will recover when Grafton take on SCU Marlins at home next Saturday.
