The Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership will be decided on Saturday when Mounties battle CRL Newcastle in the Grand Final at ANZ Stadium.
Mounties have been the form team of the competition after finishing as Minor Premiers and losing just one game during the regular season.
They held off a spirited Wests Tigers outfit 14-10 in the Preliminary Final to book a spot in Saturday’s decider with the game to kick off at 5.10pm.
Mounties fell behind 10-4 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game before two late tries to Monique Donovan and Kaitlyn Phillips sealed the win.
Their dominance up front is their greatest asset. They will be led by lock and captain Simaima Taufa-Kautai, who has scored seven tries this season and has averaged 155 running metres from her four appearances for New South Wales.
For much of the game it looked like a determined Tigers outfit would hold Mounties out but it was the speed of fullback Tahlia Hunter that broke the game open.
Mounties only played Newcastle once this year, winning 18-16 in a thriller in Round 3. Hunter starred in that clash after scoring two tries.
They face a tough clash in the middle against CRL Newcastle, who triumphed over the Sharks 16-12 to also reach the Grand Final.
Newcastle successfully played a power game through the middle, with all three of their tries being scored by forwards.
They have plenty of strike out wide too including New South Wales and Jillaroo representative Isabelle Kelly, who has scored eight tries from as many games in the centres this season.
Tayla Predebon crashed through a number of Sharks defenders to post the opening try but it was the performance of Caitlan Johnston off the bench which caught the eye. She set up Hannah Southwell with a barnstorming run before tossing defenders aside to score underneath the posts.
The grand final will be held at 5.10pm as the curtain-raiser for the NRL match between Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Wests Tigers.
