The Church sisters, Jamie and Paige, scored three tries between them to help Alhambra-Union claim its first women’s premier club title since 2012, thanks to an epic 29-24 win over a quality Dunedin team at the North Ground on Saturday.
The home side trailed 17-0 with five minutes remaining in the opening half, and the game looked like it was slipping away.
Dunedin was building in confidence, but the Crazy Horses rolled the dice.
They took a quick tap and caught the Dunedin defence napping.
Vika Piukala rumbled the ball forward and fellow prop Eilis Doyle picked up and drove over several phases later.
AU swung on to attack again and centre Jamie Church got on the outside of her opponent and scored in the tackle. There was a desperate effort made to hold the ball up, but the gutsy midfielder got it down.
That 17-point deficit had been reduced to five points by the break.
The older of the Church sisters, prop Paige, crashed over midway through the second spell to level the scores.
The Crazy Horses took the lead for the first time when Jamie Church bagged her second. She got outside her marker and bumped off another defender in a 15m run to the line.
Dunedin was stunned into action.
It had opened the scoring when impressive centre Te Atawhai Campbell charged the ball down, regathered it and ran 80m to score.
She made a strong carry in the lead-up to Brigid Corson’s try as well.
Sheree Hume converted both and nailed a penalty. But that is when AU took over.
Dunedin needed to reply, and it did. Trailing 22-17, prop Lyric Siaki barged her way over and Hume’s conversion gave the defending champion a two-point lead with time ticking down.
Dunedin missed touch too often in the final moments, and with it missed the opportunity to slow the game down and take further time off the clock.
That was the chance AU No8 Bella Rewiri-Wharau needed. She busted through a tackle in the middle of the paddock and took off.
She was eventually dragged down, but AU had got into a position to score and Doyle got across for the winner.
AU co-coach Cathy Charles was thrilled with the result.
She told the Otago Daily Times it was a tense game "and could have gone either way".
"The girls just dug deep," she said.
"We had such a hard semifinal last week that we knew how to get the points back. They just stuck at it and did what we asked.
"It was not ideal [to be trailing 17-0], but we had 80 minutes and we had the belief. We knew we had to score last before halftime and that is what we were focusing on.
"It feels really good. I’ve coached for six years and I’ve had some of the girls play with me the whole time, so it is a great reward for them."
Co-captain Zoe Whatarau led the charge for AU, while Doyle and Jamie Church also had strong games. For Dunedin, Campbell was menacing in midfield and Hume run play nicely from first five.
Women’s final
The scores
Alhambra-Union 29
Eilis Doyle 2, Jamie Church 2, Paige Church tries; Georgia Cormick 2 con
Dunedin 24
Te Atawhai Campbell, Brigid Corson, Lyric Siaki tries; Sheree Hume 3 con, pen
Halftime: Dunedin 17-12.
