Western five-eighth Britt Naden believes the Rams will taken plenty out of their women's country championship opener against a tough, classy Monaro at Parkes on Sunday.
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The Rams went down 30-6 against the Colts but showed flashes of brilliance while maintaining a gritty defensive effort at Pioneer Oval.
The Colts shot out to a 12-0 lead following tries to Ahlivia Ingram and Jasmine Tooth but the Rams girls hit back via a super, close-range effort from young Goannas star Alahna Ryan.
Ryan latched on to a great off-load from prop Haylee Lepaio and showed plenty of awareness to find the line and score the Rams' only try of the game.
Western did a mountain of defensive work early in the match and that toll showed late as the visitors raced in three second-half tries, but Naden says the flashes some of her team's youngest players produced indicate there's a bright future for women's footy in the Rams region.
“I think our young girls went well, Taneka (Todhunter), Alahna … so there’s some upcoming talent there," she said.
“I think we let them run around early, and that hurt us. It was our first game though, we can only improve from here.
“We’ve got a long way to go but there’s lots we can work on."
Western began the match on the back foot, with the Rams only touching the ball once in the game's opening 10 minutes and that added defensive work stunted the Rams' work with the ball.
We held our ground in defence … we were just all buggered.
- Western five-eighth Britt Naden.
Outside backs Heidi Regan, Meredith Jones, Demi Chapman, Emily Caton and Molly Hoswell barely saw the ball as Western attempted to work itself back into the game.
Jennaya Ottaway scored a second-half double, while Hollie Massey scored a great try for the Colts to cap what was a tremendous opening round for the Monaro girls.
Still, Naden was a proud Rams representative post game.
"We held our ground in defence … we were just all buggered," she said.
“If we can use are fast girls a bit more … but it;s a new team. This is the first time we’ve played together and this was a hard team.”
- MONARO 30 (Jannaya Ottaway 2, Hollie Massey, Jasmine Tooth, Aglivia Ingram tries; Shannon Wright 5 goals) def WESTERN RAMS 6 (Alahna Ryan try; Bec Ford goal)