Touch: Te Tai Tokerau U21 girls clinch title at national champs

Te Tai Tokerau were in strong form at the Touch Nationals. Photo / Getty Images

Te Tai Tokerau continue to prove their abilities on the national touch stage as the under-21 girls' side clinched their division title at the 2018 E Tu Whanau National Touch Championship.

Playing in Takanini, the Joe Rau-coached side had to work hard to beat North Harbour 6-5 in the final, though the final score didn't reflect Te Tai Tokerau's overall dominance in the clash.

The Northlanders opened the scoring through Savannah Bodman in a team length of the field effort.

They easily marched their way up the field with quick play-the-balls before a Kyra Manahi pass fortuitously bounced back into her hands before finding Bodman free on the wing to open their account.

Harbour hit back before another long effort from Te Tai Tokerau restored their lead.

Emerina Marsh, a standout in the final, made a quick burst from dummy half before finding Celine Timoko for the try.

Te Tai Tokerau added one more before the halftime break as Manahi scored a deserved try.

She stepped through the defence and crossed the line after being touched by an offside defender.

Te Tai Tokerau held a 3-2 lead at halftime but needed to be wary heading into the back end of the fixture. In an earlier match against Harbour they held a 2-0 lead before being hauled in by their opponents, losing 4-3.

They made sure this wasn't going to be the case with three tries in the first six minutes of the half, effectively sealing the title.

Lyric Hutchinson crossed the line immediately after the restart as Serai Murray-Wihongi fired a pinpoint 15m cut-out pass to the wing for the try.

Harbour struck back but Te Tai Tokerau kept attacking. Marsh grabbed a try in a nice blindside move with Phoenix Littin.

Timoko completed her double shortly afterwards when an attempted wide pass from Marsh ended up in her arms and she crossed over to extend the lead to 6-3.

Harbour came back late in the piece to bring the deficit down to one but Te Tai Tokerau weren't going to let them spoil a classy performance, sealing the title with some staunch defence.