Super W Final 2022
Who won Super W 2022?
Fijiana Drua win the Super W Grand Final 2022 at the first time of asking, beating holders NSW Waratahs in a thrilling contest in Melbourne.
With the Drua having beaten the Tah’s 29-10 in a fairly comfortable victory at the start of April, you may have made the mistake in thinking the 2022 Super W Grand Final would play out in a similar way. What actually took place was a superb, competitive final, with the Drua eventually running out winners.
Around 16 minutes into the match, Waratahs were building pressure in the Drua red zone. A penalty was given and Vika Matarugu was sent to the bin for 10 minutes. The Tah’s did not immediately benefit from their numerical advantage, with Naikore showing a moment of brilliance to step, hand-off, and sprint into the left hand corner for the first try of the game.
The Tah’s fought back with a try of their own, with Delamere throwing a dummy and accelerating through a gap, taking the score to 5-5.
The tries kept on coming, a few minutes later the Drua showing great composure to get the ball wide to Radiniyavuni who scored in the left hand corner.
Next up was one of the tries of the afternoon, with the ball picked up in the midfield and seemingly nothing on, a big Crossfield kick was perfectly placed into the hands of Lomani, who handed off a final defender and sprinted under the posts.
The Tah’s had to get themselves back into the game before half-time, and managed to do so through Delamere’s second try of the afternoon off the back of a driving maul. Half time score was 17-12 to the Drua.
3 minutes into the second half, Delamere got her hat-trick off the back of another driving lineout maul – the try was converted by Lori Cramer and the Tah’s were in the lead for the first time in the match, 19-17.
Despite some brave defending from the Waratahs, the pressure building from the Drua was too much and they regained their lead through Naikore, who took advantage of an overlap to score her second try in the right hand corner.
On the hour mark, the Drua captain was sent to the sin-bin and the Tah’s immediately scored through yet another lineout maul, Karpani sprinting over from short range for a converted try.
With 10 minutes left, Ravisa showed a moment of class where she sprinted through a gap, skidded along the floor to avoid a scrambling Tah’s defender, and then regained her footing to score a try, leaving the score at 27-26 to the Drua with 10 minutes left to play.
The Drua then scored what was to be the winning try with some superb offloading rugby and the ball eventually ending up with Naikore who dived over in the corner.
The final score was 32-26 to the Drua who deserve their title after dazzling this year’s Super W competition with constant fast, flowing rugby that was joyous to watch. The Waratahs will be disappointed to not retain their Super W crown, but executed a gameplan that brought them so much closer to a victory than their previous encounter with the Drua.
We’ve loved every minute of this years Super W competition, and it’s given us a lot to look forward to in the Women’s game, especially with a World Cup just around the corner!
