The match began with most of the action at Counties Manukau line, Waikato having the early running and pinning their opposition in their half. The pressure eventually paid off for Morgan Morrow who provided her usual X Factor in the middle to put Waikato up 1-0 after 10 minutes.
Counties almost got on the scoreboard through some ad-lib play by Conal Grant and Tyla Nathan-Wong but the final pass didn't stick and they were left to find another way to equal the scores.
Waikato were driving with more efficiency and playing with more structure but they couldn't cross again and had to be content with a 1-0 halftime lead.
The second half began fruitfully for Waikato and featured Kimiora Rangitonga diving underneath the defender in the corner after her middles created space. Counties crossed the line not long after but a forward pass call went against them at it was still 2-0 Waikato's way.
Mixed Touch Black Jordan Rogers-Rhind then provided the bit of inspiration required to get Counties back into the game, skipping into the in goals, evading touches and then offloading to Lorelei Nathan to score. It should have been 2-2 after some more good play in the middle; the ball was spread wide after the over-lap was created but it slipped through the hands of the winger with the line begging.
Waikato made Counties pay for the error on their next set with Shiray Tane capping off an excellent tournament by diving over and securing a 3-1 lead.
A wide ball by Counties found Sasha-Pani Hallett-Mahuika to make it 3-2 but time was running out for the locals; they had one more chance to equalise but Waikato tightend their defence and then played out a full set to go out 3-2 victors and defend their National Championship.
Last Modified on 03/03/2013 06:31
