Tough trio pose triple threat
If Erana, Jamee and Chloe Te Moananui have their way, they’ll one day be the first triplets to represent New Zealand in rugby.
The 18-year-old Canterbury triplets finished their school rugby careers with a win with their Mt Hutt/ashburton College combined team in the Aoraki girls’ secondary schools’ competition earlier this month, but they’re not hanging up their boots anytime soon. After nine seasons of rugby, they have big dreams of going on to higher honours.
They began their rugby careers in under-9s, representing the Allenton Rugby Club.
Growing up watching their dad and brothers playing rugby, Jamee and Chloe were eager to give rugby a crack. Erana was not so keen – she’d have preferred netball. With the triplets being three of six children in the family, it was easier if they played the same sport, in the same team, at the same time.
So their mother suggested they all give rugby a go. Today she is their biggest fan and biggest critic.
Erana and Chloe play either prop or No 8, while Jamee moved from her preferred role of hooker to the back line this season, playing at second-five.
As you’d expect, they combine well on the field.
‘‘You can just tell by the way they are holding the ball if they’re going to hold onto it, or if they are are going to run it,’’ Chloe said.
‘‘The coaches are like, ‘you all have to talk, because only the triplets have telepathy’,’’ Jamee said.
The girls played alongside boys until the under-14s. They could have continued playing in the boys’ under-16 grade, but decided to play senior women’s for Burnham-dunsandel-irwell, before switching to school rugby. In their first year the team won the Aoraki competition. Last year they drew the final. This year they won again.
Rugby can be a tough game that gets heated, but the sisters have never got into an on-field fight. They stick up for each other though. ‘‘If you pick a fight with one of us, you pick a fight with all three of us,’’ Chloe said.
They take no prisoners on the rugby field and are speedy. In under-11s, Erana ran into a boy on the field and gave him concussion.
‘‘Dad remembers a boy going off crying and saying girls should not be allowed to play rugby, because one of us had just smashed him,’’ Erana said.
They would love to one day play for the Black Ferns. They plan to continue playing to the highest level they can, including at the upcoming South Island tournament as part of the Hanan Shield team.
"Dad remembers a boy going off crying and saying girls should not be allowed to play rugby, because one of us had just smashed him." Erana Te Moananui