A largely inexperienced Northland Secondary Schools team were defeated 27-11 by Auckland but the team's tenacity wasn't missed by co-coach Rana Paraha.
Paraha said the side lost their focus and structure during Saturday's match but they never lost their competitive edge.
"We've got a mixture of experienced players and others who are pretty new to the game and in the end instead of sticking to the game plan they made it hard for themselves and went off the rails a bit," she said.
Northland trailed 11-17 at half-time with Mana'ia Fotu scoring their only try and Timara Leaf kicking two long range penalties. They conceded a further two tries in the second spell but Parata was happy with the way the team never gave up - and were only just denied a consolation try with time almost up on the clock.
"The ball was ripped out of Holly's (O'Sullivan) hands just inches above the try line as she was about to score," she said.
