Hora Hora and Moerewa will square off in the final of the Northland women's rugby competition, after winning their semifinals at the weekend.
Moerewa beat Mangonui 24-15 in a tense encounter at Simson Park with Hora Hora running in twelve tries to thrash Hikurangi 76-0 in the other semifinal played at
the ITM Stadium.
Moerewa enjoyed good territory in the first half and scored three early tries to lead 17-0 after just twenty minutes. Shakira Ngawati, Qonetta Hati and Michelle Ruka were the tryscorers.
Mangonui struck back just before half time when halfback Louise Rogers charged down an attempted clearing kick and scored.
Mangonui scored first in the second half, when a well-placed cross-kick by Maree Pukeroa was caught by Antonia Koroi just before the deadball line.
Mangonui then hit back again, with protracted attacks on their tryline.
Number eight Lisa Ratana finally barged over to bring the score to 17-15.
Both teams used the strong wind to their advantage in each half.
Playing with the wind in the second spell, Mangonui used their kicking game to try to pin Moerewa in their half.
However, a misdirected Mangonui kick was gathered in by Moerewa's Qonetta Hati, who broke through Mangonui's backline defence to score the final try.
Arabella Alderton kicked her second conversion to give Moerewa a nine-point lead with minutes to spare.
Moerewa's Simone McEntee had an excellent kicking game, relieving the pressure on her team with clearing kicks at crucial points in the game.
Flankers Takako Matsudaira and Edith Painting-Davis also played well.
Mangonui were missing some key players through injury, but Louise Rogers and Rachel Halliday battled hard in defence. The other semifinal was hopelessly one-sided.
Hora Hora ran in twelve tries to thrash Hikurangi 76-0. Tryscorers included Rachel Porter, Rachel Blackmore, Ann Carter, Maryanne Ranapia, Julia Paraha and Kelly Boase. Porter kicked two penalties and five conversions. Hora Hora dominated all facets of play, and used turnover ball particularly well.
Freda Wiki played well at first five-eighth, and Kimberley Aitkens was strong at openside flanker.
The two teams will meet in the final at 2pm on Saturday at ITM Stadium. Both teams look to be injury-free.
