After two years of making the decider of the New Zealand Secondary School Touch Championships, our Premier Girls Team was determined to finally win the coveted title this time around. The tournament at Bruce Pullman Park brought the top 16 sides from around the country to compete over three days. The opening day resulted in three strong wins over Trident High 5-0, Southland Girls’ 6-2 and Whakatane High 11-0 to finish top of Pool A unbeaten. In the crossover matches on day two, we beat St Peter’s 5-4 before going down to Hamilton Girls’ 2-4. The girls needed to beat a resolute St Hilda’s team to progress and after a close first half, they showed their fitness and skill to win 8-5 and book a semifinal spot.

The semifinal was another match against Southland Girls’ in terrible weather conditions with strong wind and rain making passing difficult. A polished game from the girls saw them dominate from start to finish and won 7-2 to place them in the final for the third year in a row. The final was against unbeaten Hamilton Girls’, the only team we had lost to in the tournament. Our girls were focussed for this game and had the most amazing start, scoring twice in the first five minutes. This set the platform for the girls who then defended strongly and went on to win 4-3.

To top it off, Saint Kentigern had five girls named in the tournament team: Tori Kolose, Mererangi Paul, Sydney Fraser, Lisa Putt and Jaymie Kolose. Tori was also named MVP of the tournament.

The girls really appreciated the fantastic support from Saint Kentigern staff, families and students throughout the tournament and wish to thank all of them.

National champion Premier Girls Touch Team: Christina Oscar, Emily Cran, Xhavinae Samuel, Verity Bowring, Emily Braid, Sydney Fraser, Mererangi    Paul, Tori Kolose, Summer-Jean   Motufoua, Elise Conway, Amy Waters, Jaymie Kolose, Lisa Putt, Gemma Laverick, Jemma Tasman Jones, Imogen Pilkington. Head coach: Lance Watene. Manager: Lynne Scutt. Assistant coaches: Pete Samuel, Tone Kolose, Emily Colebourne. Physiotherapist: Josh Rodgers.

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• College Sports

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