The Harden Hawkettes defeated Crookwell on Saturday to Book a spot at McLean Oval on Sunday August 28. If the local ladies can beat Bungendore they will progress to the Grand Final.
The Harden Hawkettes made the road trip to O’Connor ACT for their 1st semi final last Saturday and came home with a closely fought win. Our hosts, Canberra turned on typical climatic conditions as the girls warmed up in the middle of a hailstorm and kick off was conducted through driving rain. The conditions seemed to favour our opponents as the Crookwell girls relished the winter chill and ruffled the Hawkettes feathers by racing out to an early 10 nil lead. To the Hawkettes credit, they remained calm and fought their way back into the match through desperate defence and some smart dummy half running to tighten up the game.
With the rain still descending, a great try was set up by Emma James and finished off by Katie Butt which got us back in the match 10-6. Things were now looking a bit brighter for our nervous coach Pollard who watched, drenched from the sideline. This spurred the Hawkettes into action and they were getting on top prior to halftime. A smart solo effort by Clare Smith saw her cross the line prior to halftime which evened the match to 10-all at ‘orange’s time’. Pollard’s instructions were simple – play safe from dummy half and play smart for one another in defence and we will win this match – his words were playing out as Harden controlled the 2nd half of the match. Grace & Clare Smith both scored great individual tries and both worked tirelessly in defence to help the Hawkettes hold their opponents out, it remains to be seen as to whether Clare’s pants were wet before or only after the excitement of her second try.
Crookwell crossed late in the 2nd half and this left for a very frantic final 5 minutes for both players and spectators. At times the match was a bit chaotic with dubious calls and desperate plays by our girls to keep turning our Crookwell opponents away from the try line. In the end sanity prevailed and a full set of dummy half runs saw the clock wind down, a low as our shorts were at times. As the full time siren sounded, nearly as loud as the cheers from the Harden spectators, it saw us on the favourable side of the scoreboard 20-16. Credit to the Hawkettes for their fighting spirit to get back into the match and then to defend Crookwell for the last 5 minutes.
Players player and our ‘bonds moment’ was awarded to Clare Smith with special credits going to Georgia Smith, Katie & Georgie Butt and Emma James who were in everything all game. All in all every player put their own little extra effort in at times throughout the match and this contributed to a great Harden win.
The Hawkettes will now play their arch-rivals Bungendore here on Saturday at 1215pm to try and earn the first path into the Grand Final.
Go the Hawkettes.
Maryanne Fitzgerald.
