U18 Girls travelled down to Tauranga to compete in the Northern Region U18 Finals day, hosted at Blake Park, Mount Maunganui.

The girls had an amazing experience, with Black Fern and Black Fern 7’s superstar Portia Woodman joining the team to present their jerseys as well as coming to watch the second half of their game.

 

The team got off to a flying start with wing Louisa Tubailagi scoring early on to take the lead to 5-0, as had happened in the previous week, the team were able to work together to repel the much larger opposition, turning good tackles into turnovers at the breakdown. Pohutukawa Kakara was able to then break through the line and carry two much larger defenders close to the line where she reached out to score. Score 12-0 to Northland. Sustained pressure and big running from the Counties side saw them hit back to narrow the lead to 12-7 before Captain Georgia Brierly showed her blistering pace through a hole to give Northland a commanding 19-7 lead. A late try on halftime narrowed the game to 19-12.

Halftime chatter was positive, the emphasis being on staying grounded and getting straight back into work, Captain Brierly unfortunately having to come from the field due to a nagging wrist injury.

Second half had an exciting start, pacey wing Sydnee Archer had moved into centre and was showing her elusiveness with multiple breaks only to be cut down by the strong defensive game of the Counties fullback. A period of 15 minutes after halftime saw no score before Counties were able to crash over from in close. Score 19-19. Scores were locked for a while before counties brought on some big fresh legs, with their substitutes scoring two tries over the last 20 minutes to push the score out to 31-19.

The team put in a consistent performance, and the coaches are very proud of the effort shown today, saying "We didn’t lose today, Counties just won. Size is something that can't be taught, unfortunately it is not something we naturally have in the north, but our girls are getting better and better each week. Going into our last game, it will be an opportunity for a few fringe players to get some more minutes."

Exciting times going into next season.

Thanks to coach Josh Hyde for this match report.

Article added: Thursday 26 September 2019