Manawatu-Wanganui fall short at Interprovincials

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The Manawatu-Wanganui team will enter the playoff for fifth and sixth today after they could not get out of the 'Pool of Death' at the Women's Toro Interprovincials in Ashburton.

Having lost their Round 5 match to North Harbour 5-0 on Thursday morning, Manawatu-Wanganui were in another tough scrap with Bay of Plenty that afternoon and went down 4-1.

Wanganui Golf Club's Tara Raj, the youngest representative for the team which had three players on debut, was able to halve her game with Rotana Howard, but only No5 player Tania Hook was also able to match her.

North Harbour and Bay of Plenty were able to finish in the top two spots and qualify for the semifinals, with Manawatu-Wanganui finishing in third after they won their final match-up against Northland 3-2.

At No3, Raj defeated Soktaera Sean 2up for the key victory.

The result left Manawatu-Wanganui with a still impressive four wins from six match-ups, earning 14.5 points overall from their games.

They finished ahead of Northland, Wellington, Taranaki and Otago respectively in their pool. The team will now face Auckland today, who came third in Pool A behind Canterbury and Waikato.

Results

Round 6 - Manawatu-Wanganui lost to Bay of Plenty 4-1: Maraea Durie lost to Alanna Campbell 2/1; Leanne Brown lost to Emmalee Morrell 4/2; Tara Raj halved with Rotana Howard; Katherine Paskins lost to Jodae Ngaheu 3/2; Tania Hook halved with Heather Keefe.

Round 7 - Manawatu-Wanganui bt Northland 3-2: Maraea Durie bt Brooke Kingi 6/5; Leanne Brown lost to Alayna Cox 4/3; Tara Raj bt Soktaera Sean 2up; Katherine Paskins lost to Kylie Jacoby 7/6; Tania Hook bt Sam Dangen 3/2.