Third place for Canty women’s league team

If they stick together, we’ll be looking to go a couple of spots better next year.’’ Mike Linton, Canterbury women’s coach.

The Canterbury women’s rugby league have finished third at the national provincial tournament – their highest placing for many years.

Coach Mike Linton said Canterbury ‘‘blew Central’’ off the park to win the third place playoff, 30-4, in Rotorua on Sunday.

It was their fourth win of the tournament and Linton said it represented a major turnaround.

‘‘This is my third year with the team and, in the first two years, we didn’t have a win at all. Last year, we scored 12 points in total in the whole tournament and finished seventh.

‘‘This year, we’ve taken third with four wins. It’s something pretty special, but I don’t think it’s quite sunk in just yet.’’

Linton said Canterbury had benefited from ‘‘a bigger talent pool to pick from’’ with their women’s competition expanding to five club teams in 2016.

‘‘We’ve been able to work some club combinations into our structure. The girls have bonded really well this weekend, they’ve been really tight.’’

Standoff half Charntay Poko, centre Corrina Whiley and young hooker Kadison-Tyra Robertson were standouts for Canterbury.

‘‘They’ve been very well supported by their forwards, but they’ve been the drivers for us,’’ Linton said.

Linton said the players were ‘‘buzzing’’ after new Canterbury Rugby League chief executive Shane Collins flew to Rotorua for the first two days of the competition.

‘‘It’s the first time we’ve had a general manager or CEO attend our tournament.’’

Whiley scored seven tries during the six-game series. Poko grabbed a brace in the third place playoff match and proved a reliable goalkicker.

Canterbury started the first day with Whiley grabbing a hat-trick in a 14-12 win over the Central Vipers.

Stacey Hildreth crossed for three tries in the 26-6 victory over the Auckland Vulcans but only Robertson could get across the chalk in the 30-6 defeat to the Counties Manukau Stingrays.

Canterbury suffered a second reverse on Saturday, losing 14-0 to the Akarana Falcons, but Linton was proud of his players’ performance.

‘‘I wasn’t really looking at that Akarana game [as a winning opportunity] at the start of the tournament.

‘‘But after day one, I really thought we were in with a good chance. But Akarana are a really good side. It was only 8-0 at halftime, and they scored a try on the buzzer.’’

Two tries to Akarana’s Madison Bartlett, the latter a long-range intercept, proved the difference.

Linton was pleased with the way Canterbury bounced back to beat Wai-Coa-Bay 32-10 with Hildreth and Melissa McGlynn each scoring twice. He said they carried that form into the third place playoff, notching seven tries to one. Linton said Canterbury had a young team, who would learn from this year’s experience.

‘We’ve got a couple of veterans, but most of the girls are in their early 20s, and we had a couple of teenagers.

‘‘If they stick together, we’ll be looking to go a couple of spots better next year.’’