Wests Tigers grind out tough win over Magpies

After a slow start, Wests Tigers Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership side have ground out a 24-0 win over the Wentworthville Magpies tonight in their Round 6 clash.

By far the more dominant side in the first half despite both sides failing to trouble the scorers, it was Wests Tigers who emerged victorious with a better second half — taking the most of their opportunities with a far more clinical attack.

The win sees Wests Tigers move in to the top four on the ladder ahead of next week's intriguing clash against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with two points required next Sunday to ensure a finals finish in 2020.

Playing under lights at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence, Wests Tigers dominated the early running in the game and looked to have posted first points when Raecene McGregor combined with Christina Pio on a clever no-look pass — only for the referee to controversially rule the final pass forward.

McGregor was causing all sorts of problems for the Magpies and broke through shortly after but was cut down in a try-saving tackle by the cover defence.

Despite their dominance, Wests Tigers came up with five handling errors on their opponents' line to relieve the pressure and, despite not having any real defensive work on their own goal-line, went in to the sheds with the scores locked at 0-0.

It didn't take long for the home side to make the most of their good field position in the second half, with Janelle Williams scooping up a clever offload from Sophie Curtain to burrow her way over after just five minutes.

Arguably the best on ground on the night, Naomi Kara would double the lead soon after when she took on the line with a strong run to extend the score to 12-0.

With the lead and momentum on their side, Wests Tigers would push their lead beyond two converted tries to lead 14-0 with a long-range penalty goal to Emily Curtain, before the halfback added to her personal tally with a try of her own following a clever cut-out pass from the in-form McGregor.

Having been denied earlier in the game, Pio and McGregor would again combine late on to put the icing on the cake for Wests Tigers — showing good hands under pressure to crash over for the fourth and final try of the night.

Wests Tigers 24 (Williams, Kara, E.Curtain, Pio tries; E. Curtain 4/5 goals) def. Wentworthville Magpies 0 at NSWRL Centre of Excellence