30 September 2024
The crowd was in full voice today as teams took to the fields at Arataki Park for Day 2 of the NZRL National Girls Youth Tournament. With all eyes on the semi-finals at the end of the day, everything was up for grabs as teams looked to secure their spot and ultimately find their way through to tomorrow’s finals.
Day 1’s section leaders all started off well, with South Island putting on 38 to Waikato’s 4, Auckland taking out a tighter match against Bay of Plenty 14-0, and Counties and Wellington both adding over 30 points each to their tally as they held Mid Central and Northland scoreless respectively.
That set up two North vs South semi-finals with Wellington taking on defending champs Auckland and Counties facing off against South Island.
For Wellington, it was good carry metres that set them up early. Their first try scorer going over untouched after a scrum near the line. After another Orca try, Auckland did threaten, an 80m run setting them up with good field position. But Wellington’s defence was too good, eventually holding up an Auckland attempt. At 10-0 to Wellington at half time it was all to do for the Vulcans.
The second half again proved to be a tough contest, but Wellington kept plugging away, adding points to the board to near enough shut Auckland out. Auckland did score late, but it wasn’t enough, Wellington progressing to the finals after an 18-6 win.
On the other side of the draw, Counties opened the scoring by slicing through on the left-hand side. But South Island fought back, securing their own kick off afterwards and setting themselves up under the posts. Making good metres when they had the ball, South Island scored again to take the lead into half time 12-4.
Counties were close a number of times in the second half, one play from one side of the field to the other seeing them held up over the line. But South Island were able to hold on and see out the match 18-8.
18s Girls final tomorrow: South Island vs Wellington
With plenty of good footy at the start of the day, Akarana fronted early against Wellington before the Orcas shut them out and sealed the win 20-10 with a try just before the final whistle. Manawatu put on a huge 44-0 win over Coastline, Bay of Plenty and South Island closed out Northland and Mid Central respectively, while Counties held Auckland scoreless, the game ending 16-0.
That left Manawatu fronting against Wellington in one semi-final, and South Island against Counties in the other. Manawatu was in the driver’s seat in the first half with two tries, including a nice dart down the left edge, putting them up 8-4 at half time.
That’s how the score stayed for most of the second, until Wellington managed to put too much pressure on and score a converted try not long before the final whistle. Just to end Manawatu’s hopes even more, Wellington busted through off the kick off, dotting down to see their team through to the final.
Meanwhile, Counties proved to have the edge over South Island for most of the match. While South Island scored just before half time to give them a sniff, Counties kicked on to see the final score at 26-6.
16s Girls final tomorrow: Counties Manukau vs Wellington
For all draw and results updates visit sporty.co.nz
On Day 2, Field 2 will continued to be live-streamed on YouTube
