CHARLES Sturt University hadn't been beaten all season, but a more composed Ag College got the best of them when it mattered most in a 22-19 women's tens grand final upset on Saturday.
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The Reddies were raging favourites after comfortably accounting for the rivals twice this season, but a lack of composure in the first half cost them dearly.
Although a forward pass ruling at the death cost them a match-winning try, CSU were guilty of impatience and Ag College made them pay with three unanswered tries in the opening 20 minutes.
Seven minutes into the match Sagoifale Tufue crashed over for Reddies, before tries to Shannon Taylor and Clare Harpley gave them a 17-0 half-time lead.
The Reddies looked set to run over the top of them when Tess Staines used her speed to score a long range try, before she set up another to Victoria Nolan to reduce the gap to 17-14.
Ag College steadied through Harpley's second of the match, but Ellen McIntyre hit back for CSU with a try with six minutes left after intercepting a Harley pass.
CSU looked to have sealed a comeback win in the dying stages when Staines burst past the Ag College defence, but the pass to her was ruled forward.
Ag College's player of the match Megan Seis said it was pure relief when the final pass of the game was brought back.
"It was definitely a tight moment. Seeing that ball get thrown and knowing there's not much you can do," she said.
"She's very quick and an amazing player so it was very much a relief when the whistle got blown.
"We came in with a level head and trusted that every single person on the team could do it, and that's what got us through.
"It's definitely a lot easier coming in as underdogs. Getting that extra game in last weekend definitely helped us come together as a team."
Seis said the quick start was crucial in raising belief in the team, but also putting some doubt into CSU's minds.
"We've seen in games we've played before, a couple of tries get put on us and we drop our heads," she said.
CSU coach Andy Bedford said he will be interested to view the final pass on replay, but conceded his team put itself under pressure with silly decisions early.
"I can't wait to watch it (pass). It was very windy but it will be interesting to watch it back," he said.
"We nearly stole a win, but we made it hard on ourselves at the end of the day.
"When we got the footy in the first half we tried to force a pass, and score off every play.
"Full credit to Aggies, they were the exact opposite to us. They were composed and held the footy in the red zone and kept peppering our try line."
AG COLLEGE 22 (Clare Harpley 2, Sagoifale Tufue, Shannon Taylor tries; Harpley conv) def CSU 19 (Victoria Nolan, Ellen McIntyre, Tess Staines tries; Monique Higgins 2 conv)
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