Palmerston Raiders seal last-gasp win over South Darwin in 2020 NRL NT women’s premiership

A LAST gasp try gave the Palmerston Raiders an 18-16 win over South Darwin in the final regular season round of the 2020 NRL NT Women’s Premiership

Palmerston’s Ruti Tagiloa in her side’s 18-16 win over South Darwin. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

A LAST gasp try gave the Palmerston Raiders an 18-16 win over South Darwin in the final regular season round of the 2020 NRL NT Women’s Premiership.

Defence was tight throughout much of the opening exchanges, only broken when a grubber from Aysha Kay caused an overlap for Palmerston allowing Rachel Nosomo to register the first try.

The score seemed to inspire South Darwin, who last round forfeited their game against Sistaz, and they quickly scored two of their own in revenge through Shameka Petterson and Cassiela Wapau.

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At that point it was clear that the Raiders needed some inspiration of their own and powerful forward Ruti Tagiloa was brought back on.

Her presence saw Palmerston move back on the offensive and soon after the prop barrelled through the Bunnies line to see her side ahead once more.

The second half was a quieter affair on the scoring side of things though the tackles would keep coming thick and fast.

Raiders had a number of chances in the scoring end, though Souths scored first through Tedisha Bush putting her side ahead by a nose.

And it looked like that would be the final score until a late offensive play saw Palmerston reserve Zoe Grotaers sprint down the side line to score and steal the game from South Darwin.

Raiders’ coach Anthony Smith was proud of his side’s ability to stick to their game plan feeling it would be vital heading into finals.

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“That was a fantastic win as it was all about working up our confidence heading into finals next week so it will be a great feeling for the girls,” Smith told the Sunday Territorian.

“Hard work and trust got us over the line. We’ve got a game plan and the girls stuck to it even in those couple of tough moments.

“Looking at finals we just need to stick to our fundamentals and improve on where we’re a little weaker at the moment to work up the grand final.”