Two Spirit home games in Farah Palmer draw

Scott Manson
Scott Manson
The Otago Spirit will have just the two home games in the revamped Farah Palmer Cup.

The draw for the competition was released yesterday.

Otago had won promotion to the Premiership last year after beating Hawke’s Bay in the championship final.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has had a big impact on the competition, along with the need to manage costs. The 13 sides in the competition have been split into two groups along geographical lines.

The five other teams with Otago in the southern group are Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury, Tasman and Manawatu.

Wellington and Canterbury loom as the major sides, while Manawatu have also been in the top division for many years. The northern pool of teams will start two weeks earlier than the southern group.

Otago coach Scott Manson said it was good to finally get a draw out. The Otago side had started training before the pandemic hit and had been training on Tuesday nights and two mornings a week since restrictions were lifted. He had a squad of 34 players working towards the season.

Manson said it would be a tough and compact season and would require the Spirit be on its game right from the start.

A normal season was seven games, so five was not a major reduction.

The side had lost locks Kate Smith and Jess Kendall, while prop Claudia Hobbs was also unavailable. It still had a solid look to it but playing against premiership teams would be a tough examination. Some players had come down from Tasman and there was quality throughout the team, Manson said.

Otago would play a pre-season game against Canterbury in Timaru on August 22, a week after the club final.

The final three games would be doubleheaders with Mitre 10 Cup games. The top two teams in each group would go through to the semifinals and the final will be on the weekend of October 16-18.

The Spirit would have the same coaching group as last year, Manson being assisted by Jamie Angus and Aimee Sutorius.

Rowena Duncum is assistant manager of the side. 

 

Otago Spirit

Draw
v Wellington, Sep 5, Wellington
v Hawke’s Bay, Sep 13, Forsyth Barr Stadium
v Canterbury, Sep 19, Christchurch
v Tasman, Sep 26, Nelson
v Manawatu, Oct 4, Forsyth Barr Stadium

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