Brumbies 27-19 Force
The Brumbies are off the mark for the Super W season, triumphing 27-19 in a back-and-forth clash with the Western Force.
Boths sides entered the game winless but the Brumbies' experience saw them through against an energetic Force lineup, scoring four tries to three at Canberra's Viking Park on Sunday.
Brumbies captain Rebecca Smyth was relieved her side got the breakthrough.
"It was such a tough game out there," said Smyth. "They were physically the toughest team that we have played this whole competition.
"Our girls just stuck in there and we managed to finally get away and I'm really proud of them.
"I thought everyone that was on the park today played really well ... everyone that came on just played so well."
The Brumbies opened the scoring via a penalty try, with Force's Sera Ah-Sam adjudged to have collapsed a maul as the hosts looked set to cross for a try on 10 minutes.
Even with Ah-Sam in the sin bin, the Force dug in and made most of the play without scoring, while they finally made some dominance count through Turiti-Kapuarei Galiki, who danced through Brumbies defenders to level things up at 7-7.
But the Brumbies came back strongly as Ash Hewson kicked a penalty on 35 minutes, before a Grace Kemp pick-and-go try made it 15-7 on halftime.
The lead was stretched immediately after the break when Smyth peeled off a Brumbies scrum and scored.
Justs as the hosts looked to be sneaking away Zakiya Kereopa lunged for the corner and found it for the Force.
Down 20-12, the Force conceded next when Lillyann Mason-Spice who cut through their line to make it 27-12, copping a knee to the face as she scored.
The Force wouldn't quit and Brooke Mason crashed through mutliple defenders and allowed Madeline Putz to score, before the Brumbies saw the game out with their poise.
The Brumbies cemented fourth on the table with one game remaining, but won't play finals with just the top three to progress.
Force skipper Trilleen Pomare lamented the fact her side had not had more possession, despite putting up their highest points total of the season.
"It's not the result we were after today, the girls showed some fight right to the last second of the game," she said.
"We were still trying to come out from our try line and still trying to have a crack but we just couldn't convert it to points.
"We need ball-in-hand, we know what we can do but we just haven't been able to show it."
REDS 55-5 REBELS
The Queensland Reds have celebrated an historic Super W night in style, beating the Melbourne Rebels 55-5 in front of a host of former players.
The Rebels dominated the opening exchanges and scored first, after already being denied what appeared a clear try.
But the hosts then dominated, winger Ivania Wong bagging a hat-trick and prop Liz Patu a double, her first a monumental run to the line after returning from the sin-bin.
Their bonus-point victory pushed them within a point of second-placed NSW Waratahs, who lost for the first time in Super W history to unbeaten Fijiana Drua on Friday night.
The Waratahs will play the Reds next week before they line up again in a semi-final, the winner to take on the Drua in the decider.
Saturday's Women in Rugby round was made special by the gathering of a host of former Reds players, who formed a guard of honour pre-game and then celebrated on full-time.
They were on hand to receive their Reds caps alongside current players, the eight-month project orchestrated by Vanessa Bradley documenting 26 years of rugby history and identifying 238 Queensland representatives since the first capped match in 1996.
"They came out to play and we were a bit spooked," Reds captain and Rio Olympic rugby sevens gold medallist Shannon Parry said.
"We toughed it out there in the breakdown ... started to set the platform, doing the grind work so the backs could get those glory tries."
WARATAHS 10-29 FIJIANA DRUA
Fijiana Drua have burst the NSW Waratahs' bubble to all but book a berth in the Super W final.
The Drua turned on the style to snap the Waratahs' 21-match unbeaten streak with a 29-10 win in their top-of-the-table clash on the Gold Coast.
The Waratahs had never previously lost since the advent of the women's competition in 2018 but the four-time champions had no answer to the Fijians' attacking prowess and relentless defence.
A three-try blitz fired the Drua to a 17-0 lead inside 18 minutes at Cbus Super Stadium on Friday, with classy outside backs Vitalina Naikore, Kolora Lomani and Timaima Ravisa all finishing off long-range movements.
Winger Lori Cramer, easily the Waratahs' best in the opening half, crossed in the 22nd minute to put the defending champions back in the game after pulling off some important defensive saves as well.
But a runaway intercept try against the run of play to Raijieli Laqeretabua when the Drua had flyhalf Merewalesi Rokouono in the sin bin left the Waratahs playing catch-up in the second half.
Tatum Bird's third try in two games, after more great lead-up work from Cramer, gave the Waratahs a glimmer of hope of snatching a miracle draw with five minutes remaining.
It was all over, though, when lock Sereima Leweniqila bagged the Drua's fifth try two minutes later.
Triumphant captain Bitila Tawaki was delighted that the Drua managed to preserve their unbeaten record in 2022 to go outright top of the table two weeks out from the finals.
"Really pleased for the girls with the performance," Tawaki said.
"Thanks to the Waratahs for giving us such a good game. It wasn't an easy game."
Losing captain Grace Hamilton said the Waratahs were punished for trying to beat the Drua at their own game.
"It was a really tough today," she said.
"We tried offloads, which is not our game. We've just got to play the platform.
"We just let them into the game and they capitalised on our mistakes.
"And credit to them - they're good at it. They make points of every turnover."