RICKY WILSON/STUFF
No 8 and captain Jess Foster was among Tasman's best in their first round Farah Palmer Cup loss to Waikato.
The Tasman Women's rugby team's impressive first round efforts have been tempered by the loss of some key backs as they prepare to meet Otago in round two of the Farah Palmer Cup national provincial competition.
Tasman appeared on course for a first round upset at Blenheim's Lansdowne Park last Saturday before a late Waikato rally secured the visitors a 25-17 win. Otago also suffered a 20-7 loss to Canterbury.
Tasman head coach Marty O'Cain described the performances as "bitter-sweet" after also being denied a losing bonus point. But he was delighted with his team's effort and now had a much clearer idea about where they stood.
Under normal circumstances, Tasman would be heading south to Dunedin's Logan Park on Saturday in a relatively confident frame of mind. But through injury and unavailability, Tasman will be without Risi Pouri-Lane and Jess Drummond, who are both in Japan with the New Zealand Women's Sevens team, while outstanding centre Wairakau Greig is unavailable after receiving a blue card for a suspected concussion last week. Fullback Sydnee Wilkins is also out with a calf injury.
O'Cain said that the forwards survived the Waikato match relatively unscathed although captain and No 8 Jess Foster "popped" her shoulder early in the first half. She bravely battled on and according to O'Cain, was determined to lead the team in Dunedin.
Otherwise, O'Cain and assistant coach Mark Kelly have a fully-fit forward unit to select from, although a reshuffled backline missing four front-line players will seriously test the squad's player depth.
"I'd be very confident with a full strength team ... but being understaffed puts a bit of pressure on that," O'Cain said.
"You've got to have faith in your squad, everyone's training hard and they're all upbeat."
Still, there was plenty to like about the team's national debut.
"We know that our patterns worked, we know that our defence works ... but we went for probably 65 minutes when our injuries and fatigue set in.
"We met our performance expectations but just not the result and now the challenge is to carry that performance on, not just have this one little honeymoon period and think `good, we can do this'.
"We've got to do it this week, next week and the week after that and so on. So that's the challenge I've put to them."
Saturday's match kicks off at Dunedin's Logan Park at 3pm.
HOW THEY LINE UP
TASMAN WOMEN: Pippa Andrews, Fern Hoskin, Leti Fotumoala/Staci Kohe, Lyric Siaki, Michelle Curry, Dana Wilson, Rosie Buchanan-Brown, Jess Foster (c), Kelly Stanford, Tamara Silcock, Hannah Gillespie, Courtney Clarke, Stacey Davis, Stephani Mitchell, Kelly Couper. Reserves: Naomi Tiumalu, Shayla Tuitupou, Ashley Ulutupu, Niska Scott, Fotumalu/Kohe, Helen Leota, Raelene Olsen.
OTAGO SPIRIT (from): Sheree Hume, Catarina Antunes, Sam Hollows, Greer Muir, Kilistina Moata'ane, Liv Waldron, Zoe Whatarau, Angie Sisifa, Georgia Mason, Morgan Henderson, Kate Smith, Jessica Kendall, Syreeta Norris, Morgan Walker, Ellis Doyle, Tegan Hollows, Annemieke van Vliet, Michaela Day, Sarah Crabbe, Lauren Tye, Cheyenne Cunningham, Kiana Wereta, Soraya Umaga-Jensen, Isla Pringle, Julia Gorinski, Leyhana Van Vugt, Laura Harrison, Nicole Kennedy.