Defence key for Spirit
TWO can tango and two can tackle.
That may well be the motto for the Otago Spirit players ahead of Saturday’s Farah Palmer Cup championship final against Wellington in the capital.
Wellington is a big, physical side, which tends to knock other teams round and play a very confrontational game.
Otago, on the other hand, does not have the biggest players.
They rely more on skill, craft and ticker to get the job done.
So as Otago captain Tegan Hollows says, the way to stop the Wellington players is to get together and put the big Wellington ballrunners down — two in the tackle.
After all, noone can make much of an impact when lying on the ground and out of the game.
Otago played Wellington earlier in the season, also in Wellington, and the home side ran out the winners 3910.
Hollows said the lessons from that game were to play as a team on defence and work hard for each other.
‘‘They are very much bigger than us. We probably need to put in another tackler in there and be a bit stronger around the rucks,’’ she said.
‘‘We just went in a bit high against them last time and fell off a few tackles, which helped them get a rollon. We need to stop them before they can start doing that.’’
Otago made the final last year in the championship, but went down to Bay of Plenty 75 in driving rain in Tauranga.
Hollows (21) said losing the final last year was a motivating force in not getting the same result this year.
‘‘We are going into the game definitely as underdogs, but that way we have nothing to lose.’’
Hollows, who is an accountant at Shand Thomson, is in her first year as captain and admitted it was a bit of a shock to be given the captaincy.
‘‘But I like it. I’m slowly getting into it. Probably the worst thing is having to talk on the television afterwards.’’
Hollows has been switching between No 8 and hooker with Rebecca Todd. But Todd has picked up some concussion symptoms and has been unable to play of late, so Hollows has been forced to play hooker.
‘‘I don’t mind playing either position really. I quite like throwing the ball in at hooker, but then when you are at No 8 you get the opportunity to roam wide more.’’
The side has had its fair share of injuries this year, but Hollows has hung in there.
She is in her fourth year in the side, and is growing into her game. She has ambitions in the game and will keep playing as long as she enjoys it.
She was introduced to the game when she was young. Her keen father Tom helped, and the South Otago High School product has never looked back.
Her older sister Sam also plays the game, and has been part of national sevens development teams in recent of years. Sam was unavailable for the Farah Palmer Cup this season, but will play sevens for Otago.