The Illawarra Steelers surged to a convincing 28–6 victory over the Central Coast Roosters at Ziems Park on Saturday afternoon, overcoming an early 6-0 deficit with a five-try blitz.
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The Steelers conceded the first try to Roosters winger Imogen Hei in the 11th minute, but it was their defence that would prove the key in a game where they struggled to find their rhythm at times with the ball in hand.
“Our focus this week was on our defence, our connection there,” Coach Jamie Szczerbanik said post-game.
“We’ve got a lot of skill in the team, we just need to learn when we can pull the trigger on it and when we need to just contain it.
“But that’ll come over the coming weeks, but defensively I thought that was the best part of our game today.”
Tiarna West hit back for the Steelers in the 17th minute, and dual strikes from powerhouse interchange forward Leah-Rhys Toka (pictured) on either side of halftime gave the home side an 18–6 lead.
Toka has slipped seamlessly into the Steelers line-up after only joining the squad recently.
“We just made her job nice and simple,” Szczerbanik said.
“We know that her best asset is her power. So, we just wanted her to get herself into a good position, where she could utilise her weapons to the best of her ability, and luckily enough, we’ve got two tries out of it.”
[Watch] Steelers interchange forward Leah-Rhys Toka crashes over for the first of her two tries agaisnt the Roosters.
The second half was all Steelers. Shortly after the main break, Loka scored her second try before Captain Mackenzie Lear scored out wide in the 42nd minute. Lear’s try came after a long break down the left edge by centre Jessica Patea, who capped off her strong performance scoring in the 52nd minute to extend the lead.
Fullback Tayleah Handcock nailed three conversions and added a penalty goal late in the match.
Despite the early unforced errors, Szcerbanik was pleased with how his team responded.
“The resilience we showed, both with and without the ball, where we came up with errors but didn’t dwell on them.
“We just flushed it, and we got on with the next job. We could have quite easily just dropped the bottom lip there and let them get momentum, but we didn’t.
“We just kept rolling our sleeves up and turning them away.
“I know it’s only early in the season now, but towards the back end of the season, that’s the type of stuff that does win you games.”
The victory was all the more important for the Steelers as they head into their first away game against the Penrith Panthers, their first of five consecutive away games.
Words | Angelina Raula