Dominant Otago on board

Otago second five-eighth Kilistina Moata’ane scores one of her five tries despite the effort of...
Otago second five-eighth Kilistina Moata’ane scores one of her five tries despite the effort of Tasman’s fullback Pippa Andrews at Logan Park on Saturday. Photo: Peter McIntosh.
A completely dominant Otago Spirit notched its first win of the season on Saturday.

It led 33-0 after 25 minutes and went on to claim a resounding 82-0 victory over Tasman at Logan Park.

Tasman, in its first year in the Farah Palmer Cup, had little answer to the Otago onslaught, as the home side ran in 12 tries.

Second five-eighth Kilistina Moata’ane was devastating with ball in hand.

She ran in five tries and showed her strength as she broke the line nearly every time she touched the ball.

But it was a complete team performance, as the forwards gained go-forward and gave the backs good ball to work with.

Once they got it, they proved dangerous and exposed the flimsy Tasman defence.

It was a performance that pleased Spirit assistant coach Warren Kearney.

"[I’m] pretty happy. The girls put in a good performance, which is exciting, and they played together for the whole 80 minutes, which is awesome."

While the team was lethal on attack, it was equally impressive on defence.

Tasman played largely through the forwards on attack and, while it had limited opportunities, it forced Otago to withstand plenty of pressure early in the second half.

However, Otago showed its resilience on its own line, remaining organised and tackling with accuracy.It was something Kearney said the team would find heartening.

"Eighty-two points is fantastic and it’s a good result.

"But it’s definitely heartening for the team to know, with their defence, to hold a team to zero, you’ve got to work hard for each other to come across the line so very pleasing on that."

It took just four minutes for Otago to open the scoring, spinning it wide for Cheyenne Cunningham to go over in the corner.

Center Greer Muir took a gap to score the second minutes later, before Moata’ane crossed three times while Tasman’s Staci Kohe was in the sin bin.

Angie Sisifa crashed over as the one-off runner to make it 40 points, before Muir scored a second right on halftime after taking an offload from Moata’ane.

Tasman fought back early in the second half, but was unable to score.

Eventually, Otago wore down the big visiting pack and gained ascendancy again.

Moata’ane scored two more, Morgan Henderson and Leyhana van Vugt got in on the action and Sisifa added a second.

Otago openside flanker Georgia Mason had a strong match. She tackled hard and was influential at the breakdown.

No8 Angie Sisifa was prominent both defensively and with ball in hand, while first five-eighth Olivia Waldron kicked well to find space behind the Tasman defence.

The midfield duo was devastating, while Sheree Hume was dangerous at fullback.

 

Farah Palmer Cup
The scores

Otago           82

Kilistina Moata’ane 5, Greer Muir 2, Angie Sisifa 2, Cheyenne Cunningham, Morgan Henderson, Leyhana van Vugt, tries; Olivia Waldron 9 con, Sheree Hume 2 con

Tasman           0

Halftime: 47-0

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