Noosa pack paves way to win - brave Nambour falls just short in rugby grand final thriller

A Noosa players hits the deck in Saturday’s Grand Final at Cotton Tree.

Nambour’s women have fallen just short of a premiership after pushing defending champions Noosa all the way in a hard-fought 24-15 grand final loss.

Coach Jess Broadhurst said Noosa’s dominant scrum proved decisive, but praised her side after a season in which 34 players pulled on the Nambour jersey.

“Yeah. Look, tough one, a really tough one, but look, credit to Noosa. They had a dominant scrum and when you’ve got that, they just marched us up the field all day, whether it be a penalty or a repack. I felt like that’s probably where we lost the game,” Broadhurst said.

Nambour trailed 17-8 at halftime but surged back into the contest early in the second half when fullback Bethany McKenna crossed and the conversion narrowed the margin to 17-15.

Noosa eventually steadied, adding another converted try before holding out repeated Nambour attacks in the closing stages.

Broadhurst said execution under pressure proved costly. “Yeah, I think just came down to execution. We had plenty of ball, we just couldn’t come up with points, but really proud of our group. It’s been an incredible year, and it just came down to a few little things.”

Standouts for Nambour included McKenna, Laura-May McGovern, Paige Wells and Bek Murtagh, although Broadhurst was reluctant to single anyone out.

“I think we had 34 girls over the season put a jersey on for us and I couldn’t speak highly enough of them and they put an effort in all year. So yeah, everyone’s a standout.”

She said most of the squad had committed to returning next season.

“I think majority of the group will stick together and hopefully we’ll be back here next year. Go one better.”

Noosa captain Tess Evans praised her side’s composure and scrum work.

“I genuinely think everyone stood up when they needed to,” she said.

In other grand finals, University Barbarians  snatched a 40-38 victory against Maroochydore in the dying moments of extra time in the Senior Men’s A Grade, while Brothers completed their giant-killing finals run by overpowering University 36-19 to claim the Reserve Grade premiership.