She ran, she tackled, she scored tries, she was superb

Sun, Mar 11, 2018, 10:59 AM
Jill Scanlon
by Jill Scanlon
Western Force's Courtney Hodder nabbed an incredible six tries in their round one match-up against the Rebels.

"Special, absolutely special, she did it all" - those were the words that Western Force coach Sebastian Delport grabbed from the air as he attempted to describe the performance from his 17-year-old sensation Courtney Hodder.

Hodder scored six tries as the Western Force disposed of the Melbourne Rebels 85-13 in the second match of the opening round of the inaugural Super W competition.

"She ran, she tackled, she scored tries, put a couple of kicks in as well – she was superb," Delport said.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start from my team. It was a hardworking performance from the whole squad in really hot conditions. 

“The skill level was good, the intent was good, we’re thrilled.”

Delport felt that what showed on the field was the result of the hard work put in by the players in the lead up to the series.

“We’ve really challenged the squad to embrace the new style of play and up their skillset and I think it was fully on display today and really got the crowd behind them as well – which was fantastic.”

Force captain Trilleen Pomare was also pleased with the team’s efforts crediting the strong start for momentum that never really waned.

“The girls played great. They started on the front foot and that’s definitely how we wanted to start off this campaign,” she said.

“We had lots of space out wide and threw the ball around, so we’ve got to be happy with that.

Pomare was also pleased with the local support shown and expects this new competition to have a big effect on the growth of club rugby and the pathway for the women’s game.

“The crowd was great and it was good to see the WA community coming out to support us,” she said.

“It’s another level for women’s rugby and I think it’s just going to build club rugby as well as be a platform for the Wallaroos.

With such a big margin it would be reasonable to expect disappointment from the opposition coach, but Alana Thomas believes there are some positives to take out of the Rebels’ performance.

“The scoreline was quite big, but at the end of the day there were some things that we saw in the back end of that first half and in the beginning of the second half where the girls got some continuity but just couldn’t really break the defensive line,” she said.

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