The Australian Women's Invitational Beach Footy Team recorded an upset draw against a star studded Blues line-up led by Rugby League superstar Mark Gasnier in the fourth round of the Harvey Norman Beach Footy Challenge at Sydney's Maroubra Beach.
The youthful Aussie girls caused the upset of the tournament with a stellar 4-4 draw.
After losing yesterday afternoon to the Young Guns, the Aussie girls were determined to hit the sand full of running and test their games against one of the tournaments heavy favourites.
The Blues team featured fleet footed Gasnier, fellow St. George Dragons champions Matt Cooper, Shaun Timmins, and Ben Hornby and Australian tri-nations Rugby league star Luke O'Donnell.
The Blues scored first with a scorching try to the lightning fast Gasnier in the opening exchanges, but the Aussie girls hung tough and made some exceptional touches to keep them in the hunt.
Some quick hands by Dearne Cooper and Amanda "Skwarks" Skwarko put Belinda Hammett over in the corner.
The Blues scored just before half-time.
After oranges, the Blues came out and consolidated with an early touchdown, but the Women's Team kept moving the Boys laterally and using sweeping plays to great effect.
At 3-1 down Alyce "The Rat" Hulbert instinctively swooped on a loose ball and dived over to evade Matt Cooper's attempted touch to reel the Blues back in at 3-2.
The Blues scored next with a long range reply of their own and looked comfortable at 4-2 with 2 minutes left on the clock.
A brilliant long-ball from Nicole Beck conjured a touchdown for Amanda Skwarko and the Women's Team, clearly crowd favourites, responded to the enthusiastic cheering from the masses and produced a show stopping finish.
A brilliant passing movement going through every set of hands on the field resulted in Skwarko snaffling touchdown number two.
The full-time hooter sounded and the excited Women's team celebrated a well-deserved 4-4 result.
The Aussie girls made numerous super touches on speedsters Gasnier and Hornby with Emily Hopkin, Ash Dobins, and Belinda Hammett getting plenty of air to reel in their big name opponents with spectacular touches.
The girls play their last round game at 1.30pm against a Celebrity Team led by Gordon Tallis and featuring two of the most exciting attacking players to grace a football field in recent history in Anthony Mundine and the 'King' himself, Andrew 'Joey' Johns.
