WOMEN'S rugby sevens players have been given the centre stage as the final curtain-raiser for the Super Rugby trial between ACT Brumbies and Otago Highlanders on Saturday, and Country coach Bart Challacombe expects the girls to put on a show.
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Challacombe will lead the team which features players from powerhouses Leeton and Griffith, plus three players from Temora's team against their City rivals.
City's team has a big influence from Wagga City, with eight of the 14 players coming from the premiers.
Leeton and Griffith have been the two strongest teams in the two years of SIRU's new women's competition, but Wagga City were able to spring a surprise in the grand final.
Challacombe believes the Wagga City influence will ensure a competition game.
"I'm pretty happy with the team we've got, it's a strong side, but Wagga City are defending premiers and having a couple of players from each of the other clubs makes them quite strong as well," Challacombe said.
With the sevens kicking off a 6.15pm, just 45 minutes before the main event, Challacombe is expecting the crowd to be very entertained.
"It's a great opportunity for the girls to be playing, grand final day it's the lead-up as well, but a lot more girls from different clubs get the opportunity to play in front of a big crowd which is fantastic," Challacombe said.
"The game itself has improved out of sight in the past two years across the board and I'm expecting a high quality game."
The Country team has trained twice at Leeton in the lead up to the game.
There are seven Dianas in the team alongside three players from Griffith and Temora, and Challacombe believes the team has gelled well in training.
"We've had the two training sessions so it's a bit thrown together, but the girls trained really well (on Thursday night)," Challacombe said.
"Obviously there is a lot of girls from Leeton in the team so they work well together and it's all about getting some quality players in there and hopefully they can gel into a really solid unit."