Width key as Spirit runs Northland ragged
JUST watched a game of rugby with no rolling mauls.
True story.
And better than that, the home team chucked the ball around in a wildly entertaining fashion.
The Otago Spirit paid for some of its daring in mistakes.
There were plenty of them — like the wobbly crossfield kick that ended up in a 50m try to Northland — but Otago was also rewarded handsomely for its pluck and was excellent value for a 3910 win at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.
Width was the key. The Spirit moved the ball at every reasonable opportunity.
The big Northland pack struggled to get enough numbers to the edges where much of the action was taking place.
It was all part of the plan, coach Scott Manson said.
‘‘They are a big team and we knew if they played on top of us, it would be hard,’’ he said.
‘‘And that happened [in the first 10 minutes], but we also thought they would tire out.’’
About quarter of an hour into the game, Otago started finding gaps rather than defenders in the wide channels.
Halfback Georgia Cormick and first five Maia Joseph were instrumental. They are both in possession of a snappy, accurate pass and that is ideal if you are a powerpacked winger like Oceana Campbell. She collected a nice skip pass and sprinted 15m to score the game’s first try.
‘‘We have to be able to go through the middle first to earn
the right to go wide. That is something we did quite well during the middle patch.’’
Flankers Leah Miles and Zoe Whatarau provided that punch. Miles, in particular, made some really incisive carries, and lock Ella Gomez did some nice work in the tight.
Prop Paige Church finished off another wonderfully constructed try before the break. Miles had brushed off several tacklers and from the ruck Otago swung it to the fringe and got close again. Church was on hand to barge over to give her side a 203 lead.
Northland replacement winger Kerri Johnson was the eventual recipient of said wobbly crossfield kick and sprinted off to close the gap shortly after the resumption.
Otago owned the rest of the game.
Centre Cheyenne Cunningham muscled the ball over the last few inches following a short run to the chalk.
Veteran fullback Sheree Hume extended the lead further when she got on the outside of the last defender following a lovely set piece move, and Kiana Wereta scored with her first touch — out wide, of course.
Northland copped two late yellow cards for high tackles and finished the game with 13 players.
In the other games on Saturday, Bay of Plenty edged Auckland 73, CountiesManukau beat Manawatu 1913, and Tasman beat Taranaki 2717.
Yesterday, Hawkes’s
Bay downed North Harbour 325 and Waikato beat Wellington 2316.