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The Canterbury Bulldogs are through to the preliminary finals of the inaugural Tarsha Gale Cup after a 32-16 victory over the Parramatta Eels at Belmore Sports Ground.
The weight of possession proved too much for Parramatta in the first half, finding themselves down 24-8 at the main break and unable to peg back the lead during the second 40.
Page McGregor was among the best for the Bulldogs, finishing with two impressive tries as well a number of strong efforts defensively. The pair of tries take her to 14 tries for the season, a statistic she leads.
Five-eighth Adi Sakiti played a leading role as well, guiding Canterbury around the park and finishing with a try of her own.
Parramatta were led from the front by Shaylee Bent, who provided a number of highlight moments, including a breakaway run in the second quarter, only to be brought down inches shy of the try-line. Christine Pauli was also strong, finishing with a hat-trick of tries on the back of strong running and terrific positional play.
After a back-and-forth tussle to start the match, Canterbury drew first blood through Sakiti, before Parramatta responded through Christine Pauli as she claimed her first in the following set of six. Back-to-back penalties in the final minute of the first quarter gave Canterbury great field position, which they capitalised on through Aaliyah Fasavalu-Fa’amausili, who gave them a 10-6 lead after the first period.
The second term was all Canterbury, as Page McGregor collected two tries within minutes of each other to push the lead out to 14. Pauli tried to keep her team in the game with her second try of the morning, cutting the deficit back to 10.
A 50-metre burst to Sinead Sio leading up to a try on the stroke of half-time to Tigerlily Wakim made the comeback much more difficult, for Parramatta, as the Bulldogs went into the main break with a 24-8 advantage.
Tries to Fasavalu-Fa’amusili and Alafou Fatu in the third quarter saw the lead stretch out to a game-high 24 points before a strong effort from Paris Ruwhiu helped the Eels to cut the deficit to 32-12 with one-quarter to play.
Parramatta managed to keep Canterbury scoreless in the fourth quarter, with Pauli completing her hat-trick and capping an impressive individual performance.
Canterbury earns a week off, while Parramatta will face Penrith in the semi-finals next week, a side they lost to in the sixth round.
Canterbury Bulldogs 32 (Tries: Aaliyah Fasivalu-Fa’AmAmausili 2, Page McGregor 2, Adi Sakiti, Tigerlily Wakim, Alafou Fatu – Goals: Grace Li 2) defeated Parramatta Eels 16 (Tries: Christine Pauli 3, Paris Ruwhi)
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