Hunter Wildfires lose 22-20 to Sydney University Gold in round 3 of Jack Scott Cup, 2023

The Wildfires are gunning for another top-four finish in the Sydney women's premier rugby union competition, and showed they were on track in the 22-20 loss to unbeaten Sydney University.

The round-three result came after Hunter had opened their 2023 campaign with a 70-0 demolition of West Harbour followed by a 15-7 loss to Western Sydney.

The hosts trailed 12-10 at half-time on Saturday but found the try line early in the second half and held a 17-12 advantage after Shana Povey converted.

Simultaneous yellow cards to hooker Lynn Koelman, in her first appearance since returning from the Super W season with Western Force, and second-rower Emma Decupper as "a little bit of ill-discipline crept in" reduced the Wildfires to 13 players for several minutes and the visitors capitalised.

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Sydney University scored to regain control at 19-17 before the pair returned to the field.

Povey "nailed" a long-range penalty kick with eight minutes remaining but Gold edged ahead at the death with a penalty of their own.

"They beat Western Sydney 43-5. We get beaten by Western Sydney 15-7. It shows that we've just got to turn up and play some footy," Ellis said.

"I feel like we've got the right style of footy. It suits a lot of these girls. I feel like we're as fit as any team in the comp so we're there or thereabouts. The potential of this team is unbelievable now."

Ellis wanted to see more aggression in round three, and that is exactly what he got.

"I was really impressed with how our scrum has improved in seven days," he said.

"Line-outs got better. We defended so much better. We ran with the ball. We played that more aggressive, hard-running type of football that we want to incorporate into the team.

"It was a bit of a grind. Our tries were all scored just close to the line, forwards just rushing it up."

In round four of Hunter Women's Rugby on Saturday, Wanderers beat Waratah 5-0, Hamilton defeated University 10-0, Nelson Bay were 38-5 winners over Maitland and Merewether downed Medowie 55-0.

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