Central Coast Roosters tonight firmed their place near the top of the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership table with a 20-10 win over the Newcastle Knights at Cessnock Oval.
The Roosters – helped by a first appearance from NSW Sky Blues prop Millie Boyle – kept the Knights scoreless in the second half to move to second spot on the table behind the North Sydney Bears with four rounds remaining.
Chief among the Roosters danger players was halfback and goalkicker Jocelyn Kelleher, who won her second Player of the Match award after taking it out two weeks ago against St George Dragons.
“We love versing (the Knights) and we were expecting a tough game and we got it,” Kelleher told NSWRL TV.
“We knew we could come back if we could just hold the ball for more than two sets.”
But many eyes were on Boyle in Roosters colours for the first time, after having helped the Knights NRLW side to a maiden premiership last October.
Some of her NRLW teammates were on the opposing side tonight, with fellow prop Tayla Predebon putting Boyle on her backside in her first hit-up. The second run from Boyle led to her having to go to the blood bin for a cut to her right cheekbone.
There was definitely no welcome mat for the Cobargo Eels junior, but Cessnock Oval had divided crowd loyalties with both teams from the same neighbourhood.
The Knights came into the match in seventh position, needing the win to stay in touch with the top four with Semi-finals just around the corner.
But the Roosters were in no mood to be gracious. After trailing early, they piled on three tries to take a 16-10 lead into half-time.
The Knights took up residence in the Roosters half for the opening 15 minutes and that brought some return – two tries.
Fullback Shanice Parker took the ball from 12 metres out, threw a dummy, then stepped back inside, evading four defenders in total to score Newcastle’s first try in the eighth minute.
Predebon barged her way over six minutes later. A Jesse Southwell conversion had the home side up 10-0.
But a swing in possession resulted in a change of fortune – three tries came the Roosters way.
Hooker Shawden Burton scored with a simple dummy and then a swivel to place the ball to the left of the posts, for an easy conversion for Kelleher. The Roosters No.7 was instrumental in the next try putting centre Kelsey Clark over in the right-hand corner.
Scores were level at 10-all even though the Roosters were ahead 5-1 in the penalty count.
Then Kelleher took the ball at speed to make an angled dash to the try line before converting her own four pointer (16-10).
In the second half, handling errors crept into both teams, which limited scoring opportunities.
It took Knights centre Jasmine Strange being sin-binned for a professional foul in the 56th minute to help the Roosters to their fourth try through French international backrower Perinne Monsarrat (20-10).
The Knights had received four straight penalties in the half but they struggled to keep momentum and add to their score line. They were forced to reel in Roosters players on three long busts upfield but couldn’t break the line themselves.
Next week the Knights take on Mounties, while the Roosters face the Bears.
