Dragons pile on the points in convincing 40-0 over Cougars

Despite playing another shortened match for the second week in a row, the Darwin Dragons piled on the points in a fierce round 2 showing.

The Darwin Dragons have crushed a tame Cougars outfit in their round 2 match up.

Defeating the timid cats 40-0 in a 20-minute blitz after another shortened game, the Dragons didn’t let the lack of time hinder them, quickly racking up the points.

“I’m happy with that performance,” the fantastic Bianca Scrymgour said.

“The girls played brilliantly and we got a good win with a clean sheet.

“We play a bit of a unique style of game to the others as so many of us all play in the same rugby league side and have been playing for so many years together.”

The barnstorming prop explained her side’s style of play, no matter how hard they try, often resembled an attacking structure of the 13-player format.

Bianca Scrymgour. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin.

“We don’t intend to play like that (league style), but it just sort of comes naturally to us,” Scrymgour said.

“It’s great though because it means we make crash plays up through the middle and then our backs either hit the hole or we set them up out wide.”

Not wanting to diminish the game and result, Scrymgour was a bit disheartened with playing yet another shortened game, the second on the trot.

“Look, it was their first game and we knew that it’d be tough for them and that they don’t have as many players on the bench as us,” Scrymgour said.

“So we wanted to respect that and so we played another shortened game with 10 minute halves instead of 20.

“It’s definitely frustrating because we pay the same fees as the blokes and we train just the same, and we’ve got to make the trek to here and training, so to not play a full game isn’t ideal.

“We know that the game is still growing and we appreciate that but at the end, we want to play longer games.”

The Dragons will look to make it three in a row when they take on the Palmerston Crocs, Saturday, November 4.

FT – Darwin Dragons 40 def. 0 Casuarina Cougars

Dragons: Elisa Niki, Homere Wosomo, Courtney Tamati, Keisha Humes, Janna Ransome, Ayesha Kay (1 try), Elisa Niki, Cassiela Wapau (1 conversion), Ayesha Kay (3 conversions).

Round 2 Results

WOMEN

Uni. 14 def. 0 South Darwin

Dragons 40 def. 0 Cougars

Crocs – BYE

ROUND 1

Starting their title defence in emphatic fashion, the Darwin Dragons Senior Women’s side couldn’t have asked for a better first game.

Kicking off their 2023/24 season campaign against a tough University Pirates outfit, the girls in yellow and black never truly looked in doubt.

Despite Uni getting out to an early lead after player coach Sharon Jennings crashed over in the eighth minute, the Dragons dominated possession and field position for the remaining 30 minutes of the game.

Finishing the game the right side of a 24-5 scoreline, the Dragons are looking to ease themselves into this season, with a number of debutants set to pull on the strip in the coming weeks.

Ayesha Kay. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin.

“That was a good first game,” Dragons fullback Ayesha Kay said.

“We played a pretty tough Uni side and they actually got the better of us at the start there.

“But come the second half, once we had got a bit of our rhythm back, we started to put together a few nice plays and set pieces and we came away with the win.

“So that was a great way to start the season for sure.”

With the first win of the season in the bag, the fierce fullback said she and the leadership group have their attention set on blooding new and junior players for the coming rounds.

“I think because we (Dragons) are quite a new team, with a lot of new girls that have never played union before, and a lot of our young girls coming through, we were really just pretty much using this game to help them and guide them through the ins and outs of what happens and what to expect moving forwards,” Kay said.

“Obviously our seniors picked up a bit of the work rate in this game, just so the newer girls could get their confidence.

“Through the season our plan is to just teach our girls the basics, and build up a great foundation for the team and our culture.”

Nothing was more evident of this approach than the side only using one of their two subs throughout the entire game.

“We only had two on the bench and actually used one of them this game,” Kay said.

“One of the players is super new so we were just wanting to get her to have a feel for the game, we didn’t want to throw her in the deep end and completely scare her off.

“If we can go through again undefeated that’d be great but if not, this is going to be a rebuilding year with a focus towards the future.”

FT – Darwin Dragons 24 def. 5 University Pirates

Dragons: Elisa Niki (2 tries), Keisha Humes, Janna Ransome (1 try), Ayesha Kay (2 conversions).

Pirates: Sharon Jennings (1 try).

Round 1 Results

WOMEN

South Darwin 80 def. 0 Crocs

Dragons 24 def. 5 Uni

Cougars – BYE