Sunday saw the final day of grand finals taking place with the U18 Girls and Farrelly Photos Women’s competitions taking place on Mt Smart field 2. Manurewa Wāhine made history with the Whero taking out the Championship final and the Kowhai claiming the Premiership title to give them a clean sweep of the Women’s grades.
In the Auckland Women’s Championship Final Manurewa got off to a quick start in this match up, continuing their hot run that had taken them to the big day.
Scoring three tries in the first twenty minutes and getting out to a 16-nil lead, it looked as though they were going to run away with it, but the Manukau Magpies fought back to pull themselves into the contest.
Lourdes Tuiala and Toakase Filimoehala crossed with quick back-to-back tries to make it 16-8 with ten to go before the break. In those ten minutes, Whero hit back and reclaimed their 16-point advantage.
Manukau came out firing on both sides of the field, holding out Manurewa and scoring themselves 10 straight points to make it a one possession game. Stand out performer Peaches Peters, who already had a double, got herself two more to push the game out of reach and secure the first trophy of the day for the Manurewa Wāhine.
Meanwhile in the Auckland Women’s Premiership, it was once again a battle between the two premier Women’s clubs in Auckland.
It was always going to be a close contest with each team picking up a win in the last two match ups, one being the Pt Chevalier Pirates only loss of the season. Defence was the story of the first half, with both sides looking slick but unable to get the rewards on the scoreboard. At halftime the teams took a break with the score level at nil-all.
Something had to give, and it was the footwork of Monica Samita after getting a line break that got Pt Chevalier on the front foot with the first points of the game and a six-nil lead.
Not long after Manurewa’s Crystal Stowers got her side back level again, getting a try under the posts, making it an easy job for Kerehitina Matua to add the extras. From there it was a tight contest with disallowed tries and missed opportunities putting fans on the edge of their seats.
A fancy show and go put Kat Wira-Kohu through a gap close to the line to get the south Auckland side up with just over five to go. A Pirates mistake with less than a minute to go put Kerehitina Matua over to score again for the Manurewa Wāhine putting it out of reach and making history as Manurewa take out the Women’s Championship and Premiership grades.
RESULTS:
Auckland Women’s Championship:
Manurewa Marlins 34 – 24 Manukau Magpies
Auckland Women’s Premiership:
Manurewa Marlins 16 – 6 Pt Chevalier Pirates
