New England women's coach Luke Stephen couldn't have been happier with how his side performed in their return to the Country Championships 15-a-side fold.
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Before the weekend's tournament in Tamworth, the zone hadn't fielded a women's side in a 15s championships since 2016.
And back then, as Stephen reflected, the average margin was around 50 points (against the Lions).
"Obviously our women's game has come so far since then," he said.
"And to have our girls not only take part as a New England side but to compete against all opposition in really good parts of the game was really pleasing as a coach and I think it sets us up nicely for the future of women's rugby in New England."
He said they were "phenomenal ambassadors for themselves, their clubs and the zone".
The highlight was a 26-7 win over Far North Coast in their final game on Saturday night. Earlier they had gone down to Central North 22-nil and Hunter 47-nil.
They wrapped up their campaign with a 27-nil loss to Central Coast on Sunday morning.
With comparatively limited time together before the weekend, it took them a bit of time to gel, although having a large representation of players from Albies and Barbarians did help with the cohesion, Stephen said.
"And we saw that in our first game.
"Although we weren't successful, even in that period of getting to know each other they still played some really good rugby, they defended really soundly," he said.
"And that just set us up.
"We knew early in that game against Hunter that we were a little bit outgunned but to the girls credit, they dusted themselves off and they came out in the evening game and in cold conditions played a really great game with some really exciting footy against Far North Coast to get a win."
While he was happy how they played in all four games "in parts", it was their most complete 40 minute performance.
Tahlia (Tink) Morgan scored a double in that game and was a standout over the weekend.
"I (also) thought Charlotte Goldman was outstanding in the amount of turnovers she was able to generate," Stephen said.
"I thought Brooke O'Halloran nailed everyone that moved and I don't think there was a better fullback here than Skye Gordon-Briggs in terms of how consistently she was able to make big plays in attack and defence all weekend."
For Stephen though it wasn't so much about the likes of Morgan, who was last year selected in the Country side, but how much some of the players that "are in their first year of 15-a-side footy" or "were middle of the squad members", really stepped up.
The challenge now is maintaining interest in the 15s program, especially with such a transient talent pool.
"One of the benefits of having the uni is you know that you're going to get large numbers of new players in," Stephen said.
"And while the talent may vary on a year-to-year basis I think the key is that you've got the systems and programs in to develop them."
"Most of the [uni] girls we had playing this weekend were second/third year students so how do we bring those girls that are new to college this year into the set-up as we move forward so that they're comfortable?.
One way is initiatives like the Northern NSW 15s day, which was held in April.
"That did so much for us just in terms of giving these girls the opportunity to play 15-a-side footy with no pressure," he said.
