St Mary’s excited to take on HGHS on national stage
Another week, another step up for the St Mary’s College’s first XV.
The girls school broke new ground on Saturday, trouncing perennial powerhouse Feilding High School 58-12 in the Hurricanes regional final to become the first girls team from Wellington to qualify for the national top four.
It came a week after their first Wellington title when they beat defending champions Aotea College 27-10.
Now they are set to face the might of defending national champions Hamilton Girls’ High School in their top four semifinal on Friday in Palmerston North.
The team has beaten Hamilton this year, albeit in sevens when they won the Sir Gordon Tietjens tournament in February - the first major rugby title for the school.
Their co-coach, Tuga Mativa, said both he and his team were excited about the prospect of matching up against the best team in the country.
‘‘The thing about these girls is they’ve got nothing to lose.
‘‘I 100 per cent believe in my girls. I’m confident in them going out there and doing a good job. Hamilton are a good team, when we finished against Feilding everyone was telling us we’ve got the defending champs and how good they are.
‘‘For me, we’ve silenced our critics this year. We took out the sevens, we beat Aotea and Feilding and we just keep telling our girls to have fun and the results will come.’’
It has been a remarkable rise for the team, with the majority of their players in their first year of rugby while juggling other sporting commitments such as netball, basketball and volleyball.
‘‘They are naturally skilled, they play 100 other sports, which is good because they come to training and we don’t have to work much on skills,’’ Mativa said.
‘‘They’re all quite fit as well, we haven’t done much fitness at all during 15s. We did a lot during sevens, but because we train once a week I really don’t want to drain the girls. I know they’ve got rugby Wednesday, netball Thursday, other sports other days, it’s just ongoing, they’re pretty much fulltime sportspeople.’’
The timing of the semifinal against Hamilton could not have come at a better time for co-coach Ardie Savea, as it is his week off from All Blacks duty.
However, should they make Sunday’s final, Savea’s attendance might be touch and go, Mativa said.
‘‘He’s obviously playing at the top level, so every time he comes we just pick at his brain, he’s really good with the girls and is with us this whole week. He heads back into camp on Sunday, so if we make the final we’ll have to check to see if he’s allowed to come.’’
You would hope Steve Hansen would have the good grace to afford Savea a few extra hours off if required on Sunday.
St Mary’s have a good chance to make the final, with Hamilton considered to be in a rebuilding year after losing their three coaches and eight players at the end of the last season.
The winner will play either Kaipara College or Southland Girls’ High School in the final.
Meanwhile, Wellington College could do little to stop the rampant Hastings Boys’ High School first XV from qualifying for the national boys’ top four. Their Hurricanes regional final was a one-sided affair as Hastings ran out 40-14 winners over the Wellington champions.