Hollows key as Spirit earns home semi
A HOME semifinal was what the Otago Spirit wanted and a home semifinal is what it will get.
It put on an impressive display to beat North Harbour 3415 at QBE Stadium in Auckland yesterday, securing second place on the Farah Palmer Cup championship table.
A rematch against the same opposition was going to be the result either way but yesterday’s winner earned the right to host the semifinal.
Right winger Sam Hollows scored a hattrick of tries as the Spirit played with width and confidence to get its dangerous runners into space.
She proved key, scoring early before coming into the line and breaking through to put left winger Nicole Kennedy in for a second not long after.
It was a strong start and Spirit coach Kane Jury said that was a big factor in the way the game panned out.
‘‘I think it was a pretty good start to the game,’’ he said.
‘‘When we start like that, it just gives us the confidence early on and we can do what we’re about and what we do as well, so a really good start to the game.’’
North Harbour responded with a penalty before Hollows finished off a brilliant team try.
A break from Soraya UmagaJensen inside her own half put the Spirit on the front foot, before the ball went through several hands and the tackle was made on the 22m line.
At that point the Spirit spun it wide, with Hollows offloading to Georgia Mason, who ran 20m and found Hollows running off her shoulder.
Fullback Claire Erasmus hit back for North Harbour just before halftime, getting around the Otago defence up the left wing to make it 178.
However, the Spirit hit back after the break, again through Hollows, who finished after being put into space by Greer Muir to take the score to 228.
From there the midfield duo of UmagaJensen and Muir both added tries, before Caitlyn Cox scored North Harbour’s second late in the game.
Jury was happy with the performance, saying the team was continuing to improve and it was a shame the competition was coming to an end.
‘‘It was good. I thought our skill level today in certain parts was the best we’ve had all season.
‘‘It’s just showing we’re getting better and better every game.
‘‘I just wish the competition was another two or three weeks longer so we could keep seeing these girls get better.’’
He agreed Hollows had been dangerous, although said there had been a lot happening inside her to get her into space.
‘‘There was a lot of work on the inside from those players that allowed her to get a bit of time on the ball and a bit of width as well.
‘‘So for her, she’ll know that everyone else did a pretty good job for her to score those three tries.’’
Jury said it was the first time Otago had hosted a semifinal in a long time and the team was looking forward to doing so.