Moerewa take title after bruising battle

For much of the second half the massive HoraHora pack hammered it up, phase-after-phase, leaving the home team battered and bruised as they hit with equal force.
Props Chris Wellington (1) and captain Paula Yates gained plenty over the advantage line, only outshone by the huge frame of hooker Anne Carter.
Kelly Bates (6) won every line-out ball that came her way  including a few tossed in by the opposition  and on the other side of the scrum Harmony Ericksen was eager to steal at ruck-time. Winning tight-heads was a regular occurrence.
So with all that going on, it was a massive credit to the Moerewa defence that they starved the visitors of points to upset last year's champs and out the Northland Women's Competition rugby final 11-3.
``The girls stuck to it. We took a while to warm up but we can all be proud of our defence'', said Moerewa captain, first-five Quineta Hati.
Simson Park was packed as Moerewa set out to extract revenge on last year's champions. But the occasion proved too big for both teams in a first half riddled with errors and pushed passed, despite glimpses of quality from both sides.
Moerewa looked dangerous on the counter in the first quarter, but HoraHora hardly let them in the game.
``We started to put it together mid-way through the first (half) I'm pleased the way they took on the responsibility'', said Moerewa coach Laurie Nankivell.
Nankivell singled out Edith Painting-Davis (6) for her work in the line-out and Japanese international Takako Matsudaira in the loose, but was most pleased about the work rate of all in defence.
A rare venture into the HoraHora 22 caught the defensive line off-side after 25 minutes.
Moerewa's 17-year-old second-five and 2008 Black Fern's 7s trialist Ariana Marino stroked it through from out in front for the 3-0 lead.
The dropsy's and huge defence continued till the 38th minute, when Moerewa's top try scorer Julie Woodman made father, Freddy, smile.
From the base of the scrum Hati fed her outside backs and fullback Chakira Pia joined the line at pace, drew the last of the defence and set Woodman away. The kick missed and Moerewa took an eight-point lead into the break.
``We made too many mistakes'', said HoraHora coach Trevor Kelly, echoed by Nankivell about his own team.
Kelly was happy his team was able to turn around a 68-5 mauling by Moerewa only three weeks earlier, to split second-half honours 3-3 in the final, but he felt as though it was one that got away.
``We had about 75% of territory and possession. They countered well, and we created chances but couldn't finish a credit to their defence'', said Kelly.
Result: Moerewa 11 (J Woodman try, A Marino 2 pens) beat HoraHora 3 (F Wiki pen).