Barbets preparing for first grand final

The team will line up in the decider on Saturday with the majority of players experiencing their first season of rugby union. 

Lead by the leadership group of Alana Dunne, Jayne Heagney and Jess Piddington, the girls have embraced the sport and co-coach Billy Hyde said the success of the Barbets is a credit to their efforts off the field. 

“None of them had played rugby before so they just started off from scratch and learned how to play and now they have become really good rugby players,” he said. 

“They just take in each training and learn new stuff each week so it is pretty easy for me to teach them.”

“They are creating their culture. That has been a really outstanding thing because it is big at the Barbarians, the culture, so they have now created their own and hopefully there are a lot more girls that want to come and try sevens out and put on a Barbets jersey.”

The Elkettes will be tough to beat on Saturday and Hyde said the game plan to conquer them is simple. 

“Hold onto the ball, keep possession and don’t give them much ball to play with, they can’t score if they don’t have the ball. On grand final day, if you turn up, it might come your way,” he said.

“It should be a pretty hard fought battle.”

“We are missing a few players missing this week so it will be a bit hard for us but hopefully we can just turn up and come away with a win.

“On grand final day, if you turn up, it might come your way.

“You never know who is going to win.”

The women’s sevens match commences at 2.15pm at Bellevue Oval.