Waikite reach third consecutive final (+video)

A huge sense of relief and achievement was felt amongst Waikite's players, coaches and fans alike as they reached their third consecutive Baywide Premier final.

The reigning champions beat a fiery, young Rangiuru side 20-17 at home yesterday, despite playing with 14 players for the majority of the second half.

Waikite were leading 10-7 at half-time thanks to tries from No. 8 Luka Connor and winger Taylor MacDougall.

And the home side added two more after the break but their victory was marred with the sin-binning of three players.

Waikite head coach Lee Uerata was happy with the result and praised the clinical finishing and defending of his players.

"I am very happy to take the result because it could have gone either way. It was a good game to go into the final with because of the intensity right till the end.

"The forwards did the powerful work up front to create room for the backs who finished it off nicely.

"All round the girls worked as a team. It was hard with 14 for a long period but sometimes it can be a good thing.

"It makes everyone work that little bit harder."

Waikite took the lead after two minutes when Connor crashed over from close range off the back of a dominating home scrum.

But Rangiuru were 7-5 up after 20 minutes thanks to an impressive solo effort from inside-centre Parekura Whareaorere, and a Jimi-Leigh McLean conversion.

The away side immediately knocked on from the restart however - and from the following scrum the ball fell to MacDougall who crashed over in the left hand corner.

Waikite were down to 14 women within the first five minutes of the restart and Rangiuru took the lead shortly after thanks to a McLean penalty.

But the home side dug deep and took the lead again when Playle dived over in the left corner after impressive forwards' play.

Tension and emotion, evident from the sidelines, began to boil over onto the pitch culminating with the sin-binning of Waikite's Chevy-Lee Crean after her side were pulled up for numerous errors.

However Waikite managed to ride the wave of Rangiuru pressure extending their lead to 20-10 with 10 minutes to go when another try was scored.

The home side were given a scare in the last phase of the game when Whareaorere broke through once again with a McLean conversion, after a third player was shown the yellow card for Waikite, but it was too little too late.

Waikite will now face Tokoroa, who beat Waimana 26-5 in the other semifinal game yesterday, away in the final next weekend.

Baywide Semifinal results:
Waikite 20 Rangiuru 17
Tokoroa 26 Waimana 5