Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Super Rugby call-up returns home
Fresh faces, club veterans and a youngster fresh from Super Rugby duties can all be found within Marlborough’s sole premier women’s rugby side.
The Moutere senior women’s team returns to the Tasman Trophy in 2024 under their black and white banner following a hiatus in 2023, when the region submitted a combined Wairau clubs side into the competition.
Moutere stalwart Hannah Gillespie said the team had “really good numbers” ahead of season kick-off this weekend, with a squad of around 25.
“There was a couple of new [players] last year that have stayed on, we’ve got, I think another couple new to rugby again this year, so, it’s good,” Gillespie said.
“We’re developing, definitely, developing for the future. We’ve got a good core of players that have played for a long time since kind of 2016, for Moutere, and then we’re getting some new younger ones in as well.”
One key player locked in for Moutere was Fiaali’i Solomona, who was called up to play in the country’s highest level of domestic competition, Super Rugby Aupiki, earlier this year. Although the 19-year-old had played as a winger for the Tasman Mako in the Farah Palmer Cup, she was brought into the Christchurch-based Matatū as a No 8.
The positional shift was “pretty tough” at first, but it meant she could now cover both positions for her home club, Solomona said.
“Coming from a winger going into the forwards as a number eight, it was quite challenging, but it was good,” she said.
“There was a whole lot of learning and growing into it, but it was fun, because ... (management) was quite helpful.”
Solomona moved from Samoa to Marlborough in 2014, and was now heading into her fourth season in a Moutere jersey. With Super Rugby Aupiki now concluded for 2024, she said it “feels good” to get back to grassroots.
“This is like the home of my rugby career, like this is where I started to play rugby basically when I came to
New Zealand, so it’s like a family when I come back here,” she said.
Solomona had high hopes for Moutere ahead of their first clash of the year against Waimea Old Boys at home on April 28. “There’s new players, new faces, it’s pretty good. Last year was quite hard for numbers, so yeah, I’m excited for this season,” she said.
Gillespie said it was “quite cool” to have Solomona return to Marlborough in time for the season opener, and also highlighted two backs who had recently arrived from the North Island.
With over 20 seasons of rugby experience, Gillespie didn’t have a set position this year. She would play “wherever I’m needed .... “I think most of us are flexible like that,” she said.
Having lifted the Tasman Trophy herself more than once, Gillespie was expecting an evenly matched tournament in 2024 with the three other Nelson Bays-based sides.