Wildfires' win shows resolute defence and depth but room to move in attack

He did, however, feel the Wildfires needed to "sharpen up with our attack" despite scoring four tries for the second week in a row.

The Wildfires overcame an early start at Concord Oval, kicking off at 9am, to post their sixth win of the Sydney women's premier rugby union season after eight rounds.

"It was a little scrappy but that was probably a credit to a few of the West Harbour players who were really good at disrupting our play and our ball," de Dassel, who has returned to the coaching staff this year after mentoring the Hunter side to finals in 2022, said.

"They had a couple of really good players who managed to turn over a bit of our ball but we kept them to nil, which is very pleasing.

"It's a nine o'clock kick-off in Sydney, which means a five-thirty start for our girls to get up and get away from Newcastle, so it's a big effort to go down there to get a win with a bonus point and keep them zero."

The win came after the Wildfires bounced back from a 27-0 defeat at the hands of Sydney University to beat defending champions Easts 24-0 in round seven.

"Our defence is fantastic," de Dassel said.

"They're clearly happy to work hard for each other but we just need to be a bit precise with our attack.

"We're certainly happy with where we're at and probably the most pleasing thing is we've got a fair bit of improvement left in us as well.

"A couple of girls were injured and unavailable, so it also shows the depth of our squad."

Winger Anika Butler was ruled out late due to injury, forcing Brooke Klingner to shift from the wing to No.15.

Emily Sheather, usually an outside centre, was listed to start at openside flanker but switched out to wing and was one of four tryscorers for the Wildfires on Saturday along with openside flanker Georgia Chapple, winger Evie Bailey and halfback Maronay Smuts.

There are no Jack Scott Cup games over the June long weekend. The Wildfires host the Western Raptors in round nine on June 15.

In Hunter Rugby Women on Saturday, Merewether beat Maitland 24-5.