Tasman women well beaten by Otago

Tasman women well beaten by Otago

By Peter Jones [Marlborough Weekly]

A final quarter meltdown dented a strong performance from the Tasman women’s rugby team who were beaten 58-15 by Otago Spirit in their Farah Palmer Cup match in Oamaru on Saturday.

The Mako turned in a solid first half, after which they trailed 15-10 against the unbeaten southerners. A try to midfielder Jess Drummond, plus a conversion to Hayley Hutana kept Tasman well in touch at the break.

Coach Chris Binns said his side had dominated for long periods of the first 40, especially at scrum time, but indecision was responsible for a couple of the home side’s first half tries.

Otago scored again immediately after halftime, but a touchdown to Hutana ensured Tasman were still in reach, trailing just 22-15 after 50 minutes, before the floodgates opened.

Binns suggested his side had, “tried to play too much rugby in the first half, used a lot of energy up, but played reasonably well.

“We went into halftime quietly confident, knowing that if we just stuck to the script we could turn it around.

“At 22-15 we were still in the contest but they scored a couple of quick tries, one opportunist, and then the wheels fell off, which was a shame.

“The score doesn’t indicate it, but I don’t believe we were that far away … there were some good things to come out of it.”

The Mako women play Hawke’s Bay on Friday as a curtain-raiser to the Mako men’s match-up with Auckland at Trafalgar Park.  Kick-off is 5.05pm.