Rare feat for young Manawatu cricketer
Young Manawatu cricketer Jaiden Meyer may have been part of a world first at the Riverbend Cricket Camp in Hawke’s Bay.
The 12-year-old Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School pupil could be the first player to take a hat-trick, then become a hat-trick victim in the same game.
Meyer may be more of a batsman, but the right-arm medium pacer took a hattrick for the Manawatu under-13s against a Napier representative side in the year 7-8 grade. That was on his way to taking 5-29 in the match, as Manawatu bowled Napier out for 204 in the 45-over game. was influenced by his Maori heritage, and plan to release a KP edition shoulder pad and supporter ball. Ponga, who is yet to pledge his allegiance to New Zealand or Australia, debuted the headgear with the North Queensland Cowboys at the NRL Nines in Auckland at the weekend.
Not enough home games
We knew the New Zealand women’s sevens team hadn’t had a fair go when it came to playing in their home country, but we hadn’t realised how bad it was.
Manawatu rugby historian Clive Akers discovered the only time a New Zealand women’s sevens team has played in New Zealand was in 2001 at a tournament at Trentham Camp in Wellington, at the same time as the men’s tournament at Westpac Stadium. The women’s final was played at Westpac and the Kiwi girls beat a New Zealand women’s development team 39-5.
Going for gold
The New Zealand Rugby’s Go4gold Tokyo 2020 will be in Manawatu next week looking for the next batch of young women’s sevens stars.
The programme to find women’s sevens players of the future, particularly from other sports codes, had great success when it started, leading into the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Manawatu session will be at Palmerston North Girls’ High school on Thursday, February 16.