Wairarapa overcame a disastrous start to beat Taranaki 3-1 in their second pool game at the national under-18 women's hockey tournament in Whangarei. Taranaki rocked Wairarapa with a goal in the opening 30secs of play but Wairarapa came back to equalise by halftime and scored twice without reply in the secondhalf. Outstanding in a hard-working halfline for Wairarapa was Holly Gaskin and she scored one of their goals with others going to Libby Monaghan and Lily Parker. The victory enhanced Wairarapa's chances of making it to the quarter-finals after they had drawn 1-1 with Mid-South Canterbury in their opening match. The Wairarapa under-18 men's team bounced back from a 10-1 loss to powerful Wellington to lose by just 1-0 to Waikato in their first two pool games at their national tournament being played in Christchurch. Wairarapa shared possession and territory with Waikato and were unlucky not to at least earn a draw. Player of the match was Richard French, who was impressive on defence. Coach Jesse Workman was making no excuses for the big loss to Wellington, saying Wairarapa had simply been outclassed by a team which is a front runner for overall honours. Ryan Pauling scored the Wairarapa goal and players to stand out were goalkeeper Orin Lockyer, who came through a busy game with credit, and Tobyn Yeo.
