John Kyle was not complaining about the effort of his Otago Spirit side despite its season-ending fourth loss on Saturday.
The Spirit was beaten 30-14 by the Storm in Auckland, the loss snuffing out any faint hopes Otago had of making the national women's championship semifinals.
It was, on the surface, a season to forget for the Spirit, which won only one game, had a change of coach mid-season when Jonathon Homer resigned suddenly and had two young players suspended for smoking cannabis.
But the bigger picture included a sparkling 68-10 win against Manawatu and a gutsy effort against a classy Auckland side to end the brief season.
That was why Kyle was in a relatively buoyant mood as he assessed Otago's final game.
"It was always going to be a tough ask against Auckland and the girls really stood up. I'm proud of them," Kyle told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"Auckland were very fit and well-drilled. They played at a pace we couldn't quite sustain, and they used their bench well.
"They pulled away a wee bit near the end but until that point we were right in the contest. That was pretty pleasing.
"We didn't have quite as much space as last week but we put in a very gutsy effort."
The Auckland Storm led 15-9 at half-time, with first five-eighth Kelly Brazier having kicked three penalties for the Spirit.
Hooker Rachel Ovens then scored a try to get Otago to within a point.
Auckland led just 15-14 with 20min to go but finished with a flourish.
Kyle said it would be nice if the competition could be extended beyond five weeks.
"There's no question it would be nice if the competition was a bit bigger.
If another couple of teams rocked up, it would be great."
Otago B was pipped 13-12 by Southland B in Invercargill on Saturday.
Winger Siaosi Folau and replacement midfielder Aaron Bancroft scored tries for Otago B, with Julius Glasson adding a conversion.
The Otago Colts finished strongly to beat the Canterbury Colts 32-20 at Carisbrook on Saturday.
Otago trailed 17-13 at half-time but dominated the second half.
Marshall Sucking, Sam Crompton and Tom Preece scored tries for Otago, while Hamish McKenzie kicked a conversion and five penalties.
Otago Under-19 scored four tries to one to beat Canterbury Country Under-20 30-11 at Carisbrook yesterday.
Tumua Ioane, Guy Schwikkard, Guy Archibald and Jarid Bradley scored tries for the Otago side, with Bryce Hosie kicking two conversions and two penalties.
