Eketahuna clinched a home semi-final in their debut season in the Wellington premier division women's rugby competition with a 43-10 thumping of Oriental-Rongotai at Eketahuna on Saturday.
Ories were competitive in a first half in which their hefty pack had the edge on Eketahuna in the set pieces of scrum and
lineout but what quality ball the home team did get they used wisely, invariably moving it through their pacy backline or kicking long to test the fitness of their opposition.
Three tries, two of them to wing Dayna Reiri, gave Eketahuna 17-10 lead at halftime and with the Ories forwards noticeably tiring the omens looked good for a commanding second half effort.
And so it was with Eketahuna basically running Ories off their feet through placing almost total emphasis on attack.
Reiri scored a third try and emerged as one of the stars for Eketahuna with her elusive running and never-say-die attitude. Centre Maia Tua-Davidson also made several penetrating bursts and the option taking of both Rebecca Hull and Jessie Bennett in the five-eighths was very impressive. Up front Eketahuna were, as usual, well served by the loose trio of Perri Tatana, Emma Aldworth and Heather Edwards while grafting away well in the tight were Kelly Hunt and Raylene Reiri.
Eketahuna will play Johnsonville in the semi-finals with their previous two meetings this season having resulted in a win apiece.
Coach Cory Miller is anticipating a stern tussle with Johnsonville likely to rely on their forwards to call the tune and Eketahuna wanting to exploit the attacking skills of their backs.
Miller described Eketahuna's effort to make the semis of a club competition rated one of the strongest in the country as huge.
"I think we've exceeded everybody's expectations but we are not finished yet ... another couple of wins would be the icing on the cake," he said.
