THERE was a huge outpouring of emotion from Coffs Snappers’ players when the final whistle blew in the Women’s 10s grand final against the Grafton Redmen on Saturday.
Players ran from everywhere after realising they had just pulled off a tension-packed 17-12 victory over Grafton.
In a high-quality game, punctuated by bruising defence, Snappers survived a pulsating final five-minutes with both sides showing signs of fatigue and desperation.
Grafton got off to a dream start when speedster Carla Dougherty found space to outsprint the opposition to give her side an early five-nil lead.
However, Snappers were quick to respond scoring a converted try under the uprights.
Grafton looked like heading to the sheds with a 12-5 lead after the referee awarded a penalty try, however, the home side took advantage of a Grafton error right on the stroke of half-time to level up proceedings at 12-all.
Defence continued to dominate after the break until Snappers broke the deadlock to take a match-winning 17-12 lead.
With five-minutes left on the clock, both sides appeared to hit the panic button with unforced errors creeping in at critical moments.
In the final wash-up, the two best teams in the competition produced a game worthy of a grand final.
