Touch: Back-to-back gold for Northland's under-21 team at nationals in Rotorua

The under-21 Te Tai Tokerau team smile with their medals after winning their division in a tight final against Otago at nationals on the weekend. Photo / Steven Neville, Auckland Sports Photography

Northland's crop of women's touch rugby players continues to deliver on the national stage as the Te Tai Tokerau under-21 women's side took home national gold for the second consecutive year.

After winning the national title in 2018, this year's team was looking a lot younger with 10 of the 16 squad members under the age of 17. Despite their lack of experience and early losses, the team progressed to the semi-finals of last weekend's Rotorua-held tournament against North Harbour.

Against what was a fairly unchanged North Harbour side from last year, Northland lost 2-7 in a round robin game but strong performances against Whanganui and Counties Manukau saw the sides play again in the semi-final.

The game finished at 4-4 with the game going into a "'drop off" where one player of the team of six was removed every minute until one team scored. Northland scored early to progress to the final against Otago, a fast-paced team they had lost to 5-6 in the earlier round.

Despite the long odds, Northland adapted to the speed and skill of the Otago players and with the score at 7-7 on the final whistle, the team from the north crossed the tryline during the drop off when there was just three players on the field for each team.

Northland's other teams did not fare as well as the under-21 side, the best being the over-35 women who finished third. The open men's and mixed teams faced tough opposition finishing 10th and 11th respectively.

The back-to-back national victory for the women's side comes in the midst of a purple patch for touch teams from Northland. At the end of January, the under-12 boys' team won gold at the northern inter-provincial series and the under-10 boys' side won silver.

As a result of Northland's success, a number of players had been selected for national honours. Under-21 women's captain Tara-Leigh Turner was one of five to be selected for NZ under-16 mixed touch teams, alongside Te Kauri Parkinson, Cullen Gray, Tama Anderson and Te Aroha Kukutai-Wairau.

Turner's cousin, Mya, was selected in the national under-16 girl's team while Alec Tipene had been selected for under-16 New Zealand junior pathways TID training camp to be held in Auckland in October.

Under-21 women's coach Joe Rau was pleased to see some of his team's players get national honours after such a successful tournament.

"It was about the girls having confidence in themselves and adjusting technically," he said.

"We were lucky enough and we competed well to put ourselves in a good position and we came out with the win."

Rau, a Touch Northland development officer, said the team's hopes weren't high after the early losses to North Harbour and Otago but, in a show of great character and maturity, the team was able to move past their issues and work well together.

"We needed to play more of a team game so it was about making our talented players know we weren't going to win with them alone and we had to use our team which they did well and it got us the result," he said.

"We were all ecstatic because, 24 hours earlier, we didn't look like a team that could do that so they were a lot happier this year than last year."

He said going up against a primarily-European side in Otago, his side needed to change their tactics to combat the southerners' use of speed.

Rau credited the increased skill level of coaches in Northland for the improved results Northland's touch teams had seen recently. With his side eyeing up the open division next year, Rau said he would wait and see how his players progressed.

"We will monitor them over next six months and take it from there because we don't want to put them in the deep end."

He identified 15-year-old co-captain Tara-Leigh Turner as a key figure in the team who led the girls well in face of some tough defeats.

"She really leads by example because she's one of the fittest and fastest women going around in Northland sport at the moment."

Rau said these players would feed straight back into the sevens and 15-a-side game later in the year. Players included in the New Zealand representative teams would compete in international tournaments in September and October.