St Mary’s and Taita Colleges contest drawn Schoolgirls Premier 1 final

This year’s Premier 1 Schoolgirls final is a shared title.

St Mary’s, winners of every Wellington schoolgirls title every year since 2015 [UPDATED FACT CHECK FOLLOWS, IT THE SMC NETBALL TEAM WHO HAVE WON A 10-PEAT UNCHECKED] except for 2019 when Porirua/Aotea combined won, and Taita College contested a thrilling 27-27 draw in the final on Wednesday night at Porirua Park.

St Mary’s now go on to play Manukura in the Hurricanes final for the Rex Kerr Cup in a fortnight’s time, with Taita not entered in that competition owing to their status as an amalgamated team.

In sharing the title, Taita became the first Hutt Valley school since Naenae College in 2012/2013 to win the Premier 1 silverware.

St Mary’s had led 27-10 early in the second half (30 minute halves) and had their chances to score again, but Taita turned some bruising close-quarter defence into equally physical, direct attack and came roaring back to close the gap to 27-22 with a few minutes play.

Then then scored their match-equaliser out wide, which they couldn’t convert, before launching yet another lively assault inside St Mary’s territory but they held on and fulltime was blown.

Earlier, openside flanker Paige Lilo had scored two tries in the opening several minutes to put St Mary’s ahead and have the early ascendancy.

St Mary’s showcased their desire run the ball from deep and keep it alive for long periods from the outset, leading to Lilo finishing off a sweeping movement to score in the corner for the first try.

Lilo was in for her second try barely a minute later, when St Mary’s went wide to fullback Ana Kerr from an attacking scrum on the far side. From almost 60 metres out, Kerr launched a weaving run up the grandstand touchline and passed inside the Lilo in support to cross and double the score to 10-0.

Taita put plenty of pressure on St Mary’s with some bruising, direct ball running – a hallmark of their game –  but let themselves down with handling errors. The weight of this pressure finally gave way when they barged over to score their first try. This was unconverted and St Mary’s led 10-5 after 17 minutes.

The penalty count was mounting up against both sides, and St Mary’s hit back when second-five Terangimoana Ioane took a tap and made a 20 metre burst to the line.

Taita struck back with their second try after multiple phases inside the 22, first five Blaire Apu’ula stepping off her left foot and sliding over the line from close range to cut the deficit to 15-10 after 27 minutes.

St Mary’s scored their fourth try through No. 8 Maddison Hosking-Ah Chong, running powerfully to the blindside from an attacking scrum a few minutes from the line. This went unconverted and their lead was lead was 20-10 at the halftime interval.

They made a strong start to the second half, launching a long-range counter-attack that soon led to fullback Kerr striding through to the line. She kicked the night’s first conversion and at 27-10 ahead the defending champions were seemingly in the driving seat at this stage.

Taita weren’t about to go away, and some powerful, direct pick and go running saw them score a converted try and once more it was a 10-point game.

They then made it two tries in quick succession with more relentless attacking play close to the line and first-five Apu’ula cutting through outwide to make it 27-22.

St Mary’s went close to scoring twice, but knocked on twice in the face of stiff defence inside the 22 with 5 minutes still to play.

Once more Taita regrouped and stretched St Mary’s across both sides of Porirua Park and finally scored in the grandstand corner. This locked it up at 27-27 with two minutes of running time remaining. There was no further scoring and it was a shared podium at the presentation.

This draw followed their meeting earlier in the season in which Taita won 25-24.