Southwell stars as Knights put finals bid back on track
Margie McDonald |
Halfback Jesse Southwell has helped Newcastle secure a fourth NRLW finals campaign as they overcame a defiant Gold Coast 28-22 at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The NSW State of Origin star scored her side’s first and last tries – the second with 40 seconds left on the clock – to end the Knights’ three-match losing streak on Sunday.
In a gritty battle as the Titans tried in vain to secure a top-six spot, the lead changed three times in the first half before Newcastle edged ahead 16-12 at the break through a Sienna Yeo crash play under the posts.
Debutant Fane Finau scored early for the Knights but two quick tries for Estanoa Faitlala-Mariner and 18-year-old centre Phoenix-Raine Hippi locked the score at 22-22 with 10 minutes to play.
A Lauren Brown field goal attempt sailed just to the left in the 67th minute as the Titans scrambled for the win.
But up came Southwell with a dummy and a step in the 69th to race over for the match-winner. The 20-year-old had not scored a try since round eight of 2023, but snared two in this match along with four goals.
Gold Coast remained in sixth place, but without yet sealing that spot for the finals. Newcastle ended the game safe in fifth.
The Titans now face the Raiders in next week’s last round as they seek to make the finals. Should they lose, and Parramatta win their last two games, the Eels would leapfrog them into the playoffs.
But they will have to do it without their leading try scorer, winger Georgia Grey, who failed her concussion test early in the opening minutes today.
The earlier game in Hamilton, New Zealand, brought together the two highest try scorers of the season (13 each) in Payton Takimoana (Warriors) and Tamika Upton (Brisbane).
But with Upton’s double in the first half highlighting the Broncos’ 26-6 win, she’s now out on her own.
For a club averaging 36 points per game, the Broncos were bang on target with an 18-0 halftime lead.
The visitors looked in control but things could have got interesting in the Warriors’ last home game of the season. They had players held up over the line three times and had a try disallowed by the bunker.
Two second-half tries to Mele Hufunga and Lauren Dam stretched the Broncos’ lead to beyond the Warriors grasp.
In a nod to Upton’s workload, she was taken off early by coach Scott Prince with one eye on the Broncos’ clash with the in-form North Queensland next weekend.
“We looked at this game as a really good challenge to prepare us for the future games and it certainly gave us that,” Prince said.
“We spoke about how strong their forward back would be. So for us moving towards the finals we needed to be challenged in the middle and the Warriors did that.
“We managed to repel a few sets on our line and that was impressive.
“Scoring points is one thing, and we’ve got a good attacking team but if you want to win a premiership, defence has to be the focus.”
The Warriors travel to Campbelltown to face Wests Tigers but may be in danger of losing influential No.6 Patricia Maliepo, who limped from the field in the 56th minute after her right leg was caught under a Hufanga tackle.
AAP
