Eke women to battle champs

Eketahuna will play defending champions Northern United in the grand final of the Wellington Victoria Tavern Trophy women's rugby competition at Memorial Park in Masterton this coming weekend.
The two teams have met in the grand final for the past two seasons, with Norths winning narrowly on both occasions. But if Eketahuna can repeat the form they showed in their 41-0 semifinal win over Stokes Valley at Eketahuna on Saturday it could be third time lucky for them.
Despite playing in windy, wet conditions on a muddy surface, Eketahuna still focused on playing their usual expansive style of rugby and simply ran a gritty Stokes Valley side off their feet with a performance coach Sid Tatana rated as their best of the 2011 season.
"It was a really good effort, we couldn't have hoped for anything better," Tatana said. "We wanted to maintain the pressure all the way through and that's what we did."
Tatana was especially impressed with the passing and handling of the Eketahuna side, with very few errors being made.
"The whole idea was to keep the ball in hand and ensure the support play was right up to scratch," Tatana said. "We knew that if we minimised mistakes we would be too good for them, and we were."