Coach Joey de Dassel has enjoyed the opportunity for a new-look Hunter Wildfires to "take stock" of their Jack Scott Cup progress in a week disrupted by wet weather.
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The Wildfires could not train Tuesday night after relentless rainfall washed out most sporting grounds in Newcastle.
Instead the Wildfires women's team got together to discuss their start to the 2022 Sydney women's premier rugby union competition as they prepared for Eastern Suburbs in round four at Woollahra Oval on Saturday.
"We're over the moon," de Dassel said. "Probably not so much from a win-loss point of view but just with how we all feel about being part of our group and also our club this year.
"There's a really good feel through the whole Wildfires, across the men's and women's teams, and some of the girls spoke about that and about how good it is to feel like they're part of something.
"We went over our plays in our playbook. Sometimes you don't get a lot of time to sit and have a chat about that kind of stuff so it was good to be able to do that."
Hunter produced a dominant first half to carry a 21-0 lead into the break then staved off a second-half fightback by Warringah to take victory.
"We're pretty clear on where we need to improve and what we need to work on and we're really focused on that," de Dassel said.
"Regardless of who we're playing against, if we can do those things we're confident we'll go well. Our focuses every week are just doing the little things well.
"In patches we did that last week but we need to continue to work on our core skills of the game ... maintaining that effort and the ability to keep going and keep fighting hard for each other even when things aren't going our way."
In the only change to the Wildfires starting side, Rebecca Gordon comes in for Susannah Cooke, who is unavailable.
Gordon will play on the wing, Emily Freeman slides from outside centre to No.10 and Emily Sheather goes back to outside centre after playing wing last weekend.
Openside flanker Olivia Creswick and forward Aiishya Tipa'Leota are returning and have been named on the bench.
Tipa'Leota has been out since round one due to a head knock but was given medical clearance on Thursday to play.
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Renee Valentine
Renee Valentine is a sports journalist with more than 20 years of experience in Newcastle. She is passionate about increasing the visibility of sportswomen in the media. Got a sports story, email Renee at r.valentine@newcastleherald.com.au
Renee Valentine is a sports journalist with more than 20 years of experience in Newcastle. She is passionate about increasing the visibility of sportswomen in the media. Got a sports story, email Renee at r.valentine@newcastleherald.com.au
