Prospect of home semi motivating factor

THE prospect of a home semifinal is motivating the Otago Spirit this weekend.

It plays North Harbour at QBE Stadium tomorrow, a week before the two teams go at it again in the Farah Palmer Cup championship semifinals.

Where that semifinal will be played, though, will be determined by the outcome of tomorrow’s match.

Otago is in second place on the table, one point ahead of North Harbour. Both have two wins.

While Spirit coach Kane Jury felt the team was capable of winning anywhere, getting a home semifinal was something the team was striving for.

‘‘I think I’d always back ourselves regardless of where we play,’’ he said.

‘‘The players have already shown that when we go away, and even our home games, that we can play a brand of rugby that puts us in positions where we can win games.

‘‘But I’ve made a point of saying we can get a home semifinal.

‘‘I just think it’s good seeing people under pressure and what more would you want

where at the end of the game you get a home semifinal?

‘‘So that internal motivation is there for the girls and I think is pretty important for the outcome.’’

Jury said North Harbour was a physical team with some quick players in its backline and directed play well.

He felt being consistent was key, as it had been all season, and the Spirit would not be holding back any tricks despite having to play a semifinal against the same team in a week’s time.

‘‘Definitely play to win. I don’t think we have any cards up our sleeves,’’ he said when asked about holding back any tactics.

‘‘For us it’s our consistency of what we do and our processes,

particularly when we get fatigued and under pressure.

‘‘There’s been times throughout the season where we haven’t been able to follow those processes and teams have exposed us.

‘‘So for us it’s about just trying to play our game and being consistent in those processes.’’

The majority of the team has a familiar look to it, although it is without a few key names.

Dynamic second fiveeighth Kilistina Moata’ane has a haemotoma on her leg and will be replaced by Soraya UmagaJensen.

Meanwhile lock Jessica Kendall has been away with university commitments, and young prop Gemma Millar has will miss the rest of the season with a broken finger.