Lady Hawks show improvement in Swansea loss

AFTER a thrilling first-time win last week, the Tea Gardens Lady Hawks league tag side took on the Swansea Swans at home at Myall Park on Saturday, 12 June.

The Lady Hawks were dominant from the off, establishing strong ball possession and field position, with well-drilled passing allowing the ball to fly from one side of the field to the other.

A missed Swans catch and knock-on prompted a dangerous Lady Hawks push into Swans territory, keeping the opposition on the backfoot for several tags.

The Lady Hawks dominance continued for the first quarter of the game, before a fortunate pass landed the ball into the hands of the Swansea fullback, who broke through the defensive line to score between the uprights.

Despite their first half domination, the Lady Hawks could not get across the line in response.

Gemma Clarke and Shian Perry for first-half standouts for the Lady Hawks, retrieving the ball in defence and orchestrating a number of clear breaks towards the tryline.

The gap was widened before the end of the half, when a period of consistent pressure from the Lady Hawks was broken and a Swans breakout led to a runaway try.

The Lady Hawks reduced the deficit in the second stanza, with winger Shian Perry shooting through to score on the far left side, promoting jubilant celebrations.

Perry repeated the trick not long after, receiving the ball near halfway and scoring another almost identical try. Back-and-forth football punctuated the rest of the second half, ramping up into the last eight minutes, as the local crowd grew louder.

Despite the defensive efforts of Destinee Carey, tagging three dummy halves in a row and halting the Swans’ gains, the Lady Hawks struggled to push back to halfway.

With five minutes to go, neither side seemed to be losing steam, but Swansea pushed harder and scored again to clinch a six-point victory, 8-14.

By Thomas O’KEEFE