Black Fern Rebecca Mahoney was in commanding form as Eketahuna scored a 28-12 win over Wainuiomata in their Wellington premier division women's rugby match at Eketahuna on Saturday.
The versatile Mahoney was at second-five in the first half and then moved to her usual role of first-five in the second and
had a huge influence on what was a mixed Eketahuna performance, especially with her ability to find open spaces with her tactical kicking.
Several times she had Wainuiomata back pedalling through excellent placement and, overall, her option taking was everything you'd expect from a player readying herself for the 2010 World Cup. As was the accuracy of her goal kicking with four conversion attempts all finding their target.
Mahoney apart, however, the Eketahuna backs struggled to get any fluency into their play, with sloppy passing and poor handling usually being the main culprit. Too often promising attacking movements came to a sudden halt before any real momentum was gained, so much so that the kick and chase actually became their main attacking weapon. There the most willing chaser was fullback Heidi Whitman and she was unlucky not to score at least one try because of her persistence in that respect.
Black Fern trialist Shakira Baker did score the game's best try when she ghosted her way between three Wainuiomata defenders late in the first half and was always threatening when given space in which to move. She left the field with a shoulder injury during the second half.
Up front the Eketahuna forwards toiled bravely against a bigger Wainuiomata pack which relied mostly on the rolling maul and pick and go to make ground.
Particularly impressive was the tightness of the Eketahuna defensive screen, spearheaded by loose trio Perri Tatana, Emma Aldworth and Heather Edwards. Their tackle rate was enormous and they were also very adept at turning over ball in the tackle situation.
In broken play Tatana and Aldworth were prominent with their aggressive running, as was prop Kelly Hunt.
Eketahuna's win cemented their place at second on the points table behind unbeaten Northern United.
