Canterbury’s dominance of the Open Womens came to an end earlier in the tournament and Waikato and Counties Manukau were desperate to pick up the mantle. Nerves were on display early and both teams got off to a slow start. Waikato were the favourites after strong play in the opening rounds, but after a tense 17 minutes of no team showing any sign of scoring, it was Counties that got the opening try. Kahurangi Watene created an overlap to put Lena Davis away in the corner for a touchdown.
The second half began with Waikato clicking into gear through Lillian Pompey diving over for the try. Counties hit back straight away through Melissa Buchanan and got the lead back, but it wasn’t long before Waikato’s Robyna Hokai beats her defender to draw the game again.
You could sense a drop off coming up.
Counties Ashlynn Woodham-Enosa runs her line and scores in the corner 3-2. Final minute Waikato #11 throws a dummy pass to fool all the Counties side to score and even it all up 3 tries all.
Counties tapped off in the drop off. They make it to the line but Waikato defence is up to the task. Waikato come back and drive down the field, but Counties kept them away from their tryline.
The siren sounded and each team dropped a player; it was 4 on 4. Both teams were tiring fast and each team had the opportunity to attack, but they both couldn’t break the line. Waikato got a chance down the left flank through Carla Hohepa who sprints and looked for back up, but there was no one in support.
The siren sounded again and they drop off to 3 on 3. Waikato got a golden chance when they ran a switch with Lilian Pompey who runs to the corner but fails to pass off to the winger for the touchdown. Counties had their chance when they created an overlap in the middle of the field at halfway and got the pass away to #5 who ran 20 meters to score the winner.
Last Modified on 06/03/2010 15:00