Kiara Sullivan and Tabua Tuinakauvadra talk Orange Vipers win over Castlereagh Cougars

The girls in blue and black took on a visiting Castlereagh Cougars side which came into the weekend's matchup still undefeated in the opens competition.

Knowing they would have to pull out all the stops to get a result, the Vipers did that and more. The home side ran out 42-8 winners, with Kiara Sullivan running hard right until the final whistle.

"We always talk about the last five minutes and how it's only five minutes and we can give our all and then when that's done, we get a break," she said after the match.

"We always work with each other to make those last five minutes the best we have. We try to come out strong and slow the play down a bit when we get a bit tired, but in the last five minutes, give it everything we've got."

Sullivan exemplified that 'play until the final whistle' mentality in Saturday's contest.

"I think I get a bit too (fire up) on the field sometimes," she said.

"I love the game, I love the game to death and I'll always love it. I just can't contain my excitement sometimes."

The victory over the Cougars makes it back-to-back wins for the Vipers, who opened the season with two losses on the trot - including a first round loss to Castlereagh.

"The win was very important to us," Sullivan said.

"Last week was important to us and then this week, we were missing a lot of girls and everyone was a bit worried, but we came out doing a lot better than we thought we would."

Fellow forwards Cheynoah Merchant and Tabua Tuinakauvadra certainly played their part in the victory.

Merchant was a hit-up machine, before a head knock late in the contest saw her taken from the field. Tuinakauvadra was similarly dominant with the ball and bagged four tries for her efforts.

"It's funny because I've only ever played netball with Shanoah before today," Tuinakauvadra said.

"It's all about simple footy here. If we play simple, we can get a good roll-on, so it's good that we were on the same page."

Tuinakauvadra made the trip up from Canberra for the game, where she has been living and playing for the ACT Brumbies.

"It's just fun. It's good being back home with people I don't have to get to know again," she said on the return home to Orange.

"There's a lot of different environments that can affect how you play, so it's all about just doing your job."

While Tuinakauvadra featured all over the scoresheet, she was far from the only player to cross the line. Sullivan, Jes Pearson, Ella Barrett and Tori Moore all bagged tries of their own for the Vipers, while Cougars winger Mikaela Cullen scored a double. Barrett would also kick five goals for the home side.

In extremely wet conditions, a depleted squad could have easily proved too much for the Vipers to overcome.

But the team's youth stepped up to the mark, a point not lost on Sullivan.

"The under 18s girls always come and back up for us and we're very appreciative of that," she added.

"It's good to get a run with them and getting them to learn to play above. I know a lot of us were playing 18s and we backed up for the opens which was good for us to play with our role models."

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