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 otherswho 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.
Paraha, who co-coaches the team with Hone Heta, isn't overly concerned with the result saying the aim of this season has always been development.
O'Sullivan, who had until recently only played Sevens rugby for Ruawai College, was one of the success stories of the day playing on the wing. Another to impress was hooker Jess Parr.
Northland B turned in an impressive performance to beat Waikato B 27-22. Northland Vikings (U18s) lost 67-5 to Auckland U20s, while Northland U20s lost 36-6 to North Harbour U20s and Northland U18s lost 35-0 to their Auckland counterparts.
