Sensational six-try effort from Ellen McIntyre for CSU

McIntyre juggled leaguetag and women's sevens last season, but has elected to concentrate on the new 10s format this season.

Reddies are definitely pleased she elected to stick with them after scoring 14 tries in the first four rounds, including half a dozen in the 71-0 win over Wagga City at Conolly Rugby Complex.

The 18-year-old admitted this season has been a lot more physical.

"It's definitely a big change," McIntyre said.

"It's a lot more physical, the game length is now 40 minutes instead of 20 minutes so we had to pick up the fitness this year during pre-season and get all the girls on the same page."

Coach Andy Bedford was thrilled with her efforts.

"It was pretty sensational," Bedford said. "She got five in the first half which was even more impressive."

The Reddies have plenty of strike power but McIntyre and Biola Dawa have been leading the way in their undefeated start to the season.

Bedford described them as a real lethal combination and has been impressed by how McIntyre has stepped up her game at five-eighth in the new 10s format.

"The one thing that Ellen is starting to gain now is a bit of confidence," he said.

"She seemed to doubt herself a little bit last year, but now she's starting to get a really good read on the game and from that she's getting a lot of confidence.

"You can see she's willing to back herself and that paid off on the weekend.

"It was like she had spiders on her - they wouldn't touch her."

Another reason for focusing on McIntyre is her desire to take her rugby to the next level.

Using Dawa as an inspiration after the speedster's Super W debut season, the 18-year-old has been working hard to improve her game.

"I made sure I could get to all the training sessions and the pre-season as I really want to starting heading some places in the rugby industry," McIntyre said.

"I've been doing some development stuff with SIRU and trying to train once a fortnight and the boys here in Wagga have been giving me a lot of help with my defence, going into rucks and more of the physical things.

"With my touch background a lot of play ball and skills just come naturally but I've been playing for three years and going from non-contact sports to contact sports is a massive change."

The women will take centre stage at Conolly Rugby Complex on Saturday with all four games to be held at the one venue.

With a bye for City v Country clash in the men's competition, Bedford thought it was great Southern Inland the 10s format.

"I'm looking forward to that," he said.

"It's never been done before and it is good they've put such an emphasis on girls footy for once."

Ag College play Albury in the second of the games at 1.30pm.

Wagga City kicks things off with a clash against Ag College at 12.30pm.

Leeton plays Tumut at 2.30pm before Griffith tackles Waratahs at 3.30pm.

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