Auckland claim another NPC title

Auckland women claimed their fifth consecutive and 12th national Women's Provincial Championship title after dominating Canterbury at AMI Stadium Addington in Christchurch.

Published by Scrum Queens, October 27th, 2012

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Auckland claim another NPC title

Played as the curtain raiser to the ITM Cup Premiership Final, Auckland dominated over their hosts to win 38-12.

Auckland started strongly and raced into an almost unassailable 27-0 lead at halftime. Bella Milos long probing kicks gave the eventual champions fine territory and a good lineout return kept Aucklands possession stakes high.

It was a strong lineout that brought the first score of the game. Auckland won the ball against the throw and while the Canterbury defence looked to hold up it was 16-year-old Onjeurlina Leiataua that bust through for the try and the first points of the match.

Emma Jensen missed the conversion but slotted a penalty moments later to take the early lead to 8-0.

Storm forwards Rawinia Everitt and Aroha Savage proved difficult to stop in attack, with physical runs on that consistently broke the defensive line.

Everitt was on the end of a nifty chip kick from Milo and found herself in open space as she raced towards the try line. An offload to Karina Stowers who showed quick hands out to Marama Davis before passing to Jade Le Pesq to score, was Aucklands second and most impressive try of the match.

When Canterbury was penalised for not releasing the tackled player Milo took a quick tap and quick hands saw fullback Hazel Tubic in for the points.

Savage was rewarded for her hard work with a try on the stroke of halftime to ensure a comfortable halftime lead.

Milo opened the second half with a drop goal to pull the lead out to 30 points before Canterbury finally put together some solid passages of play.

Despite this it was the Storm that were next to score, flanker Lydia Crossman powering over for a try and taking the lead out to 35-0.

Canterbury got on the scoreboard late in the game, with tries to Lucy Ryan and Kendra Cocksedge but it was too little too late, Tubic converting a late penalty, the final score 38-12.

New Zealands coaches will name the Black Ferns squad to travel to England for a three test series next week, while the New Zealand Sevens squad ahead of the start of the Womens World Sevens Series is also set to be named soon.

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