Northland premier rugby: Otamatea perish in 91-point battle with Hora Hora

A long list of injuries has had a huge impact on Otamatea's season in 2019. Photo / File

For a team looking to get back on its feet, the injury gods have not been kind to the boys from Otamatea's premier rugby team.

Currently missing 12 players from both their premier and premier reserve teams due to injury, Otamatea could have expected worse in their 53-38 loss to Hora Hora at the Maungaturoto Sports Complex in Saturday's Bayleys premier rugby competition fixture.

The lack of numbers meant many players had to take the field twice over the weekend, covering for vacant positions in both of Otamatea's premier games. The premier reserve side also lost to its Hora Hora equivalent, 48-15.

Otamatea are yet to register their first win in Northland's premier competition and finished below Mid Northern in tenth on the table after the competition's first round.

With two games left, coach Nick Makea said his side could take some positives from the game after Hora Hora scored early points.

"We turned to life after that and scored five tries which is pretty cool," Makea said.

"Seeing as quite a few of our boys were playing two games and we could have defaulted, it was a good effort."

Makea said the opposition had too much pace on the wings for a tired Otamatea outfit to handle. Going up against Mid Northern and Hikurangi in the next two weeks, he hoped his side could emulate the performance shown against league leaders Waipū in May where they lost a competitive game, 39-17.

"If we can get it in our mindset that we have players out and the boys have got clear understanding of systems, then these are two games that we can win," Makea said.

"Our game against Waipū was the only game where we had our strongest team so it shows what we could do with a fully fit squad."

In the round's other games, Waipū beat Kerikeri, 46-22, Kamo beat Mid Northern, 37-20, Western Sharks beat Wellsford, 34-18, and Old Boys Marist beat Hikurangi, 30-24.

In Northland's premier women's competition, only one game went ahead this weekend thanks to two defaulted fixtures between Te Rarawa versus Horahora and Dargaville OB versus Marist OB. Both Te Rarawa and Dargaville OB won by default.

The one played fixture in Kaikohe on Sunday was between Kaikohe and Kamo Hawks, and the home side dominated from the first minute to win 77-5.

Kaikohe's Ruby Korewha and Manaia Webb both grabbed hat-tricks as their forwards made great inroads into the Kamo Hawks defence. After being defaulted to last weekend, Kaikohe coach Cheryl Smith said she was glad to see her side execute their game plans.

"The girls were really keen for a game and we were able to put into action what we had trained for two weeks," she said.

"The forwards got good go-forward for the backs who were getting good ball, which is pleasing."

Kamo Hawks coach Susan Dawson was proud of her side and said the girls stayed committed on defence for the entire game.

"At the end of the day, we were just worn down by a stronger team but we never gave up and showed great fortitude," she said.

"The team is growing each game and, from my point of view, that's all I can ask for as a coach, that they are using some of things they are learning during the week."

The women's competition has one more week of fixtures before the top two teams are assured a place in a semifinal, while the teams placed third and sixth will play as will fourth and fifth to see who progresses to the semifinals.