Manly-Warringah women complete Vawdon-State Cup double as club dominates feature event
On a weekend to remember for the Manly-Warringah Touch Association, the Premier Women confirmed their spot as the best in the state. SEE EVERY RESULT FROM THE NSW TOUCH STATE CUP.
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MANLY-WARRINGAH has capped off a memorable NSW Touch State Cup campaign by claiming one of the competition’s biggest prizes.
On a weekend where they return home to the Northern Beaches with six titles, their success in the Premier Women’s division trumps them all.
A flawless campaign saw them only drop their last pool game all weekend, amassing an incredible points differential on their way to a 2-1 defeat of Newcastle in the final.
A trademark Sammy Rodgers dive in the 19th minute opened the scoring, before Shellie Davis extended the lead just two minutes later.
“Our focus in the final was all defence,” coach Christian Browne said.
“We wanted to stop them from getting to our end and limit their attacking opportunities on our line. We did that pretty well.
“It was definitely a grind up and down the field for that first 15-20 minutes, but when we scored back-to-back tries we never looked back.”
Browne praised the way his side was able to maintain their focus through the gruelling campaign,
“We were reasonably confident coming into it after winning the Vawdon Cup,” he said.
“The only concern for us was playing 10 games. I wasn’t sure whether we had the legs.
“They did and certainly had plenty of run in them in the final.”
With wins in the Men’s 50s and 60s, Women’s 45 and both Senior categories to go along with a further three grand final appearances, Browne said it will go down as one of the club’s most memorable weekends.
“It was a good year,” he said.
“We won the club championship by a fair few points and to have so many teams in finals is great. It was an amazing result.”
In a high-scoring Premier Men’s final, Doyalson came away with a 7-6 win over Parramatta.
Both sides threw everything they had at each other, with the scores tied at 6-all heading into the final minutes.
A Riley Johnson dive close to the line proved the difference, giving Doyalson the win with less than three minutes on the clock.