Curtain masterclass sees Tigers record impressive win
Author : Sam Pasfield
The Wests Tigers have kept their finals hopes alive after a solid 24-0 victory over the Wentworthville Magpies at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence on Monday night, with Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Under-18s stars Emily and Sophie Curtain leading the way.
The opening half produced plenty of excitement but neither team was able to post any points on the board before the half-time siren.
Five-eighth Raecene McGregor went close for the Tigers in the far-right corner after using her footwork and strength but couldn’t get over the line thanks to some strong Magpies defence.
Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Origin representative Botille Vette-Welsh was at the back for Wests and produced plenty of safe takes, while Sereana Naitokatoka was a standout for Wentworthville at five-eighth, giving the opposition plenty to defend.
In the second half, the Tigers were on the attack and Sophie Curtain was hit by three defenders, her arm came free and she managed to skilfully offload to Janelle Williams for her side to record the first points and Emily Curtain converted for Wests to lead 6-0.
The Tigers went back-to-back with Naomi Kara close to the line dodging and weaving her way through the opposition and running to score a great individual try under the posts.
Curtain added the extras for Wests to shoot out to a 12-0 lead in a matter of minutes.
Moments later, the Tigers were awarded a penalty and Curtain continued her perfect run with the boot to take them out to 14-0 lead.
Curtain added to her try assist tally with a try of her own when she crashed over on the right-hand touchline but her conversion hit the uprights so the scores remained at 18-0.
The Tigers were on a roll and Christian Pio added to their try scoring for the night when she spotted a gap in the defence, ran it straight and planted the ball down next to the posts.
Curtain got her kicking back on track and the Tigers had all of a sudden scored 24 unanswered points.
The Magpies managed to hold them out until full time and the win sees Wests into equal third on the competition ladder.
For all the latest Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership draw / results click here Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership Round 6.
