Nambour women win third rugby premiership in row
Nambour Senior Women’s rugby team celebrates the 2024 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union premiership win with Coach Luke Zeremes. Pic Patrick Gillett
Nambour have claimed their third Sunshine Coast Rugby’s women’s premiership in a row after defeating Brothers 21-18 in a nail-biting finish at University on Saturday (August 17).
Nambour crossed the line in the dying minutes but the try was ruled out because of a forward pass. But Coach Luke Zeremes said the girls kept their composure to cross again for the winning try on the final whistle.
“Anyone who watched that game, but especially that last few minutes, knows that a coach or anyone involved in a team that wins a game like that on the death is going to be pretty excited,” said Zeremes. “Even with ten minutes to go the message to the girls was just to stay patient. Keep that self belief. We’ve had some close games during the year and we took a lot of confidence out of those. I really feel for Brothers. They’ve been the standout team all season. And they deserved that just as much as us. But at the end of the day our girls kept their self belief and got the job done.”
Brothers coach Jeff Flood said the experience would hold his team in good stead for next season. “Nambour, right across the paddock, are a highly talented, fit, skillful team. Our girls have learnt a lot of those skills, putting structure together. That was an epic battle. If any one wants to have a reason, thinking ‘should I go and watch women’s rugby?’ All that there is an example of why you should be down watching women’s rugby.”
Senior Men lose GF to Maroochydore
In the C Grade Cricks Cup Grand Final played on Friday night Nambour Men were also aiming for their third premiership in a row. But they were beaten 25-3 after an outstanding defensive effort by the Swans.
“They were just too good, man, too good defensively, “ said Nambour coach Isaac Finch. “Maroochydore did really well tonight. They played in front of their home crowd and I think the crowd sort of willed them over a bit.”
Finch said Nambour was always looking to go up a level and play in B or A grade. “Oh, yeah, that’s always a goal. At the end of the day, it just comes down to numbers. We only have enough for one team at the moment. So C Grade’s where we’ve going to stay up until we can get two teams going.”
Finch said the Club’s emphasis was on building the junior ranks and said there were promising signs. “But they’re still a bit young. They’ll probably be 15, 16 next year. So we’ve got a couple of years, we need to hold off for just to make sure we can start feeding them through properly. Can’t rush it.”
• Pics: Patrick Gillett.