Haungatau scored three tries in the NorCal final. /// Photos: Jackie Finlan
Sacramento has retained the Rugby NorCal girls’ high school title, defeating Land Park 24-10 in Saturday’s final. It was a retributive victory, considering the teams’ previous meeting, but more importantly, it was a good performance leading into nationals.
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“They felt really good and had a lot to prove,” Sacramento coach David Tausinga said of the players in advance of the final. “They went in there calm – not like before. I don’t think they had the right mindset when they first played [Land Park].”
The Harlequins won the regular-season match 75-7.
“That’s the one good thing about taking an early-season loss – you need to learn how to lose before you become winners,” the coach added. “If you win, win, win and then lose when it really counts, it’s worse.”
Sacramento proved it was a different team during the semifinals, overcoming a deficit to defeat Pleasanton 34-29. Sacramento then used those early-season lessons from the Land Park game to employ a good game plan.
“They almost play a Fallbrook-style of game: Drag you in with a couple of crashes and then it out to their speed and try to beat us on the outside,” Tausinga said of Land Park’s style. “Our defense needed to step it up, not get sucked in, and also get out of the mix quickly. Once your 10 and 12 get sucked in, then the overlap comes quickly. We did a good job of keeping our 10 and 12 out of the pile and spread the line of defense as much as we could.”
On offense, No. 8 Eti Haungatau and Canterbury High School Player of the Week set the tone. The Girls’ High School All-American ran in two of her three tries during the opening 10 minutes, and her influence radiated throughout the squad.
“I remember reading one of your articles … where we lost [to Land Park] without one of our main players, Eti, but that she couldn’t make up for 60-70 points,” Tausinga said. “I remember thinking, ‘I think you’re wrong, Jackie.’ When she’s on the field, the whole forward pack plays differently.
“When she scored that try, the whole [Land Park] forward pack, they dropped a little, ‘Oh no, here we go. We have to stop Eti,’” Tausinga said of the game-changer. “She’s so much of an impact player. She’s our young Jonah Lomu. It takes 5-6 girls to stop her.”
Haungatau has been in the game since she was 11 years old and debuted at high school nationals when there were still middle-school allowances. Even then, the youngster distinguished herself and she has not escaped national attention.
“Our leaders are really stepping it up and it’s starting to show,” Tausinga included Haungatau in a talented leadership group. “During the season, they stay back but the last two games, the leaders have been taking over the team. They’re the ones who know how to win and have been here before.
“Once they knew they had the game won – and they did this on their own – one of the captains said: I don’t want to see anyone celebrating and jumping up and down like we just won nationals,” the coach added. “It was a good call.”
Tausinga was happy with the team’s performance against Land Park and gave the nod to Pleasanton in terms of tougher competition. It was the finish the Amazons needed as they head to Indiana to defend their high school club national championship.
“My main goal this season was to stay healthy all the way to nationals, but now we’re down a player,” Tausinga said noted a broken collar bone from Saturday. “That will be our problem; we don’t have much depth again. I didn’t care about the regular season so much; I wanted to get to nationals with as many players as possible.”
Depth will hopefully not be as big an issue now that the middle school program is up and running. Tausinga estimated five players will graduate into the high school ranks next year.
“It’s hard to say,” Tausinga said of whether the team’s embracing a different mentality now that it must defend a national title instead of chase it. “Every year the teams get better and better, and we have to raise our game too and give different looks at nationals – change our defense a little, our back line plays, the way we run our pack.”
In other words, keep the opposition guessing while still embracing that hard, physical game that has marked Sacramento since its inception. Remember that the championship split into single-school and club last year, so while 2016 marked the Amazons’ first club title, the NorCal side won the combined championship in 2010, too.