Manawatū Cyclones carry on atop the championship with win over Tasman

There doesn’t seem to be any catching the Manawatū Cyclones or No 8 Kaipo Olsen Baker midway through the season.

The Cyclones overcame a slow start and slippery conditions to beat Tasman 46-14 in the Farah Palmer Cup at the Arena on Sunday, to be unbeaten and lead the championships after four rounds.

They head to Dunedin to play Otago in the final round-robin game on Saturday, in what will be a big occasion for captain Selica Winiata’s 100th game.

Manawatū have been too good for everyone in the second-tier championship this year and the barnstorming Olsen-Baker, who ran through Tasman defenders nearly every time she took the ball up, was happy with how they were looking.

“Our culture and our team is coming together,” she said. “Our young ones are coming through and it’s so cool to see, our schoolgirls and stuff.”

Olsen-Baker said she almost felt like a veteran at 21, having debuted in 2019, but felt good with her form.

She put in another powerful performance against Tasman and regularly made big metres. She was again one of Manawatū’s best, carrying on her strong season.

There was a lot of dropped ball and mistakes against Tasman, but they still managed to score seven tries.

“At training we try to move it to the edges and stuff. It was a bit windy out there today, we just made sure we got a bit tighter.”

She said it was different playing in the wet after a week ago on the dusty field at Silverdale against North Harbour, which was “like a beach”.

Now they were focused on Otago and a big performance for Winiata’s milestone.

The Cyclones made too many errors but still managed to put Tasman away. The first quarter was even and Tasman stayed close by scoring two tries, one of them an intercept try.

But Manawatū started to find their rhythm with backs like Winiata, wing Ruci Malanicagi and first-five Corrineke Windle making breaks, as they pulled away to lead 29-14 at halftime.

They scored three more tries in the second half as their backs were dangerous. Malanicagi was a big threat on the right wing and scored two tries.

Tireless flanker Rhiarna Ferris had another big game, as did lock Kahurangi Sturmey and prop Marilyn Fanoga (nee Live).

Centre Hollyrae Mete made some strong runs and halfback Paige Lush, who scored two tries, did well.

A heavy downpour with 20 minutes to go led to mistakes from both teams late in the game.

Manawatū 46 (Paige Lush 2, Ruci Malanicagi 2, Selica Winiata, Marilyn Fanoga, Corrineke Windle tries; Winiata 4 con, pen) Tasman 14 (Fiaali’i Solomona 2 tries; Cassie Siataga 2 con) HT: 29-14.

Farah Palmer Cup championship standings: Manawatū 20, Northland 17, Otago 15, Tasman 12, North Harbour 1, Taranaki 0.