Manawatu¯ Cyclones close to topping Auckland
The Manawatu¯ Cyclones have been suffering at the hands of Auckland for 11 years.
But that came to an end in wet conditions at the Arena on Saturday, as the two sides drew 15-all.
Manawatu¯ have never beaten Auckland, and have copped a few big losses, so the draw is their best result and it could have been a win if not for a conversion hitting the goalpost.
Cyclones captain Selica Winiata has played in every one of those nine losses since 2006 and was chuffed to have held them to a draw.
‘‘The main focus coming into this game this week was to make sure we focused on ourselves,’’ she said. ‘‘We wanted to make sure we executed our core roles right throughout the team.
‘‘We were after a solid team performance. We didn’t really want to want to worry about the outcome. If we took care of that the outcome would take care of itself.’’
Both teams have chances to win the game at the end, with Manawatu¯ on attack for the final two minutes, but then Auckland stole the ball and were on attack deep into extra time and got over the line, but dropped the ball.
While Manawatu¯ were disappointed not to have won the game, it was a big result and lifts Manawatu¯ into fourth spot on the table.
‘‘The good thing about the competition
now with the inclusion of Tasman and Hawke’s Bay. There’s so many good girls in a lot of teams, it’s not just a given these big cities are going to come in and bowl these teams over.
‘‘We are seeing a few upsets this season. It’s good to inspire young girls to want to represent their provinces and go on to play for the Black Ferns.’’
Winiata praised their team for hanging in for 83 minutes and never giving up.
The slippery conditions made for a lot of dropped ball, which would have been frustrating for Manawatu¯ , who blew a lot of attacking chances.
Auckland used their big pack effectively, with their runners making metres and their rolling maul was hard to stop.
But Manawatu¯ ’s defence held strong for the most part and they muscled up at the breakdown, led by hooker Aroha Nuku and impressive young lock Jessica Pease.
Cyclones wing Ruci Malanicagi scored a try in each half and the rest of their points came from the boot of first five-eighth Lizzie Goulden, who directed play well and her kicking kept turning Auckland around.
Malanicagi’s tries came from set piece moves from scrums, one where she scored out wide after a Winiata break, and the other a simple inside ball where she raced through near the posts.
There were a couple of injuries, with Pease hurting her ankle, her locking partner Mahalia Polson may have a broken hand and prop Sequita Hemmingway could have a broken cheek bone.