Rugby: Volcanix struggle in return to top tier

Bay of Plenty Volcanix player Polly Playle playing against Otago on Saturday in Rotorua. Photo / Ben Fraser

The Bay of Plenty Volcanix have suffered a first-up loss to Otago to mark their return to the Women's Provincial Championship.

The Bay women's team last played in the top-tier national competition in 2002.

During their return on Saturday, they faced a quality Otago outfit at Rotorua International Stadium, losing 38-5.

Otago captain and No 8 Angie Sisifa was outstanding in the match, crossing for four tries.

Bay coach Pere Paul, who was in charge of the Bay side back in 2002, said they had a lot to learn but it was good to be back in the national competition.

"To come away from a day like that, they know what WPC rugby is all about now," he said.

"They have certainly got some good learnings out of that and there were some good individual performances as well. And as a team they stuck in there until the end, which was really good."

He said what really cost them on Saturday was losing the battle in the forwards and missing tackles.

"[Otago] dominated in the forwards right from the start," Pere said.

"It was hard to get any system going because we were not getting any good ball, so we were on the back foot most of the day. It was a hard day at the office."

He said he was confident they would learn and improve throughout the year.

The Women's Provincial Championship runs for nine weeks before a grand final between the top two sides on October 25.

Bay of Plenty will travel to Christchurch for their next match against Canterbury this weekend. The Bay women's team will be back in Rotorua on September 13 to face Auckland.

Former All Black Hika Reid is the assistant coach of the Bay team.

Bay of Plenty 5 (Ashleigh Nathan try) lost to Otago 38 (Angie Sisifa 4, Greer Muir, Georgia Williams, Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali tries; Megan Manson pen).