Tech claim back-to-back women's rugby titles
Winger Tori Iosefo claimed player-of-the-match honours as her Napier Technical team won a second consecutive Big Barrel Hawke's Bay women's rugby championship title on Saturday.
Iosefo, who scored six tries for the Hawke's Bay Tui during their Farah Palmer Cup campaign last year proved to be a menace for the Hastings Rugby and Sports defence and scored two tries in Tech's 39-19 victory at Whitmore Park.
From the kick off the hosts displayed their intent to move the ball and control the game which led to some impressive tries. The Texans never looked like losing and Hastings had to settle for second place for the second consecutive year.
Their first try came after a strong run from Iosefo who was halted by strong HRS cover defence. However, she was able to pop up a clever ball to her ever-elusive support runner, hooker Forne Burkin, who then scored.
NTOB were able to use strong carries through their forwards to create space for their backs to exploit. The flowing rugby from NTOB often gave them the luxury of overlaps out wide. This enabled Treyana Faulkner and Tee Aiolupotea to capitalise and finish off two excellent team tries.
When the opportunity arose for NTOB forwards to dominate in the 22 they applied relentless pressure and scored twice more - once from in-form prop Whitley Mareikura and the other from lock Lara Kendrick.
HRS scored three tries. Firstly, through fullback Cortez Te Pou, who found a gap and dug her heels in to score. The second try came through a well-run set piece move off the back of the scrum with a wrap from Te Pou in the middle to break the line to set up speedster Julie Ferguson-Ngawaka to score under the posts.
And a well-deserved third try went to lock Nina Pineaha, who stood out for HRS, giving a determined performance and showing a high work rate.
Experienced HRS halfback, former Black Fern Emma Jensen, often put her team into good attacking positions with precise kicks throughout the game, including using the wind advantage in the second half. HRS youngsters, Lukika Faavae and Moomooga Palu, gave crowd pleasing displays of hard running. Also, Harmony Kautai and Amelia Pasikala’s physical presence and strength were apparent in their all-round play.
HRS battled hard and kept fighting till the final whistle but in the end NTOB were too clinical and dominant in their performance.
Focus now goes towards the Big Barrel Tui and the Farah Palmer Cup competition. Tui coach Blair Cross is impressed with the talent available to him and co-coach Steve Woods.
“Over the past few weeks we’ve seen the competition heat up and the quality improve – which puts us in a positive place as we kick off our FPC campaign next week. The final was a step up in intensity from the round robin games and it was pleasing to see some players step up and grab their opportunities,” Cross said.
Scorers:
NTOB 39 (Tori Iosefo 2, Forne Burkin, Treyana Faulkner, Lara Kendrick, Whitley Mareikura, Tee Aiolupotea tries; Chanel Atkins 2 cons), HRS 19 (Cortez Te Pou, Julie Ferguson-Ngawaka, Nina Pineaha tries; Emma Jensen 2 cons). HT: 24-5.
The Hawke's Bay Tui squad announced yesterday is:
Amber McKenzie, Amelia Pasikala, Cortez Te Pou, Denise Aiolupotea, Emma Jensen, Forne Burkin (captain), Harmony Kautai, Holly Macdonald, Hope Hakopa, Lukika (Kikah) Faavae, Jaimee Robin, Jennifer Simati, Kara Huata, Kaitlan Bates, Kathleen Brown, Krysten Cottrell, Lara Kendrick, Laurae Blake, Michaela Baker, Moomooga (Ashley) Palu, Niamh Jefferson, Nicolette Adamson, Nina Pineaha, Patrice Mareikura, Rebekah Hurae, Shaylee Tipiwai, Teagan Meyer, Tori Iosefo, Whitley Mareikura.
