QCC relish final appearance

Teams from Queen Charlotte College and the Stoke rugby club fought out an entertaining and spirited match prior to the Farah Palmer Cup match at Lansdowne Park on Saturday.

The favoured Stoke came out on top in the Tasman under-18 girls’ final on the number one ground, downing the local combination 31-15, but were made to work extra hard for their success.

The QCC side opened the scoring in the first 10 minutes, outstanding No 8 Tiara Lambert racing away to give the vocal home support some early hope.

However, it was the visitors who made most of the running for the next 50 minutes, running in five tries to snatch the game away from the locals and claim the Wahine Toa Cup.

QCC showed plenty of grit though, underlined by the fact they scored the final two tries of the match to wrap up a very successful season.

They beat Motueka High School 31-27 in the semifinal to make their way to the final, after which a Tasman U18 Wahine representative squad was named, with several QCC and MGC players included. From this group a team of 24 will be selected to compete in the South Island U18 Girls tournament in late September.

Local players selected were: Kara Beattie, Ashlee Forsyth, Harley Huntley, Ilah Beattie, Brigitta Prescott, Tiara Lambert (QCC); Isabella Baldwin and Mariana Arthur (Marlborough Girls’ College).