Spirit score late to take thriller
The Otago Spirit clinched a 34-33 win over North Harbour in their Farah Palmer Cup opener at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday.
Harbour led for a good portion of the game and looked to have sealed a thrilling win when impressive first five Ella Henderson sliced through a couple of forwards on a short angled run to the line with 10 minutes remaining.
But there were a few twists left.
Otago replacement forward Sarah Jones pounced a few minutes later. She was dragged down short but got back to her feet and barged over.
Classy halfback Abigail Paton drilled the conversion to give her side a one-point lead.
But Harbour rallied. They launched wave after wave.
Spirit captain Greer Muir helped nail the win. She got herself over the ball and grabbed plenty of turnovers, including a crucial one in the final few moments.
But Paton grabbed the most important.
Harbour were just metres from the line when she ripped it free and won a penalty.
In a moment of madness, she took a quick tap and spun it wide. The ball was lost and Otago was right back on defence.
They scrambled out of trouble and Muir managed to laugh it off during the post-match interview with the Sky commentary team.
"When our halfback quick-tapped it and passed, I was . . . " Muir said, finishing her thought with a confused gesture.
"But it was OK. I trust my team.
"I'm so glad we came out on top."
The visitors were pinned in their half for the opening five minutes, but lock Margaret Uluiqalau-Wye stormed through a hole and ran 30m to get Harbour into a prime attacking position.
Harbour held on to possession and prop Rialani Onesemo-Tuilaepa crashed over to open the scoring.
They swung back on to attack and launched wave after wave. Eventually, second five Holly Williams was able to dive over from close range.
The defensive intensity was missing from the Spirit and they trailed 14-0.
But Harbour missed a one-on-one tackle on Naomi Sopoaga close to the line and the Otago centre struck back.
Otago winger Jamie Church burst into a hole and beat a couple of defenders. But the opportunity was lost when the ball was knocked on from a later phase.
Both sides were making plenty of mistakes, but they were playing ambitious rugby, which was exciting to watch.
Otago pounced on one of those errors. They took a tap kick from a 5m penalty, faked one way, went the other and fullback Olivia Fowler muscled over in the tackle.
Harbour pushed their lead out to 19-12 when Ellie Harrison threw a dummy, stepped back in and scored from a few metres out.
Otago responded by going 90m. Sheree Hume nabbed a turnover and the Spirit gave the ball width.
Fowler finished off when she scooped up a loose pass and pushed off the cover defender.
Muir made a strong run in the movement and the No 8 got her side back into the right area with another impressive carry moments later.
Fowler almost jigged her way to the line, but Harbour wriggled out of trouble and went into the break with a 19-17 lead.
Otago should have scored in the second spell. Sopoaga sprinted into a gap and got the offload to Hume, who had a fair chance to get to the corner but dropped the pass.
Harbour struck instead.
Left winger Ursola Eteru-Fuailefau cut in between Hume and Fowler from a 5m scrum and scored.
There was more action to unpack when Paton dived over from the base of the ruck.
The Otago halfback was providing a spark for the Spirit, and her connection with makeshift first five Georgia Cormick was flourishing.
Church finished off in the corner and Otago took the lead midway through the half.
But there were still 20 minutes of drama left in this one.
In the other Championship games at the weekend, Wellington beat Tasman 39-7 and Northland defeated Taranaki 48-17.
In the Premiership, Auckland edged Waikato 31-28, Counties-Manukau crushed Bay of Plenty 88-0, and Canterbury cruised to a 44-5 win over Manawatū. Farah Palmer Cup
The scores
Otago 34
Olivia Fowler 2, Naomi Sopoaga, Abigail Paton, Jamie Church, Sarah Jones tries; Paton 2 con.
North Harbour 33
Rialani Onesemo-Tuilaepa, Holly Williams, Ellie Harrison, Ursola Eteru-Fuailefau, Ella Henderson tries; Henderson 4 con
Halftime: Spirit 19-17.
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