Crown part of university team

Former Te Awamutu College head student Atareipounamu Crown represented the inaugural New Zealand Universities Rugby Women’s team in two matches at the University of Canterbury Rugby Football Club this past fortnight.

Previously a Kihikihi rugby club representative, Crown is in her first year at the University of Otago, where she is studying health science and has been playing for the Otago University Rugby Football Club women’s team.

She has also been a wider training squad member for the Otago Spirit (Farah Palmer Cup) and represented the Otago Spirit Development team.

The first match in Christchurch saw the young halfback score a try in what was a 31-25 loss against a Cantabrians XV (September 25).

The game had started brightly with NZUW moving the ball around, but after some sustained pressure from the Cantabrians, they went behind 0-7.

Not to be discouraged by conceding first, NZUW huddled together under the posts, relayed key messages and went back to halfway fully focused.

This had an immediate effect: within five minutes, Mia Cochrane went over for the first NZUW try, making the score 5-7.

Midway through the first half, although the game was even in the territory stats, after some continuous pressure in their 22, the Cantabrians crossed over for another score to make it 5-14.

The final 10 minutes of the half saw NZUW playing at their best, picking up two quick tries.

The first was an instinctive tapand-go from a penalty by Kelsyn McCook, who ran 55 metres to score, followed a few minutes later by Claudia Hobbs, who crossed the whitewash to take NZUW into halftime up 15-14.

Major changes came for NZUW in the second half, with all players getting half a game. It was a contest that went back and forth, with the breakdown being a key area of focus for both teams.

The Cantabrians picked up two tries, taking the score to 14-26.

As in the first half, NZUW rallied and picked up another meat pie courtesy of Olivia Fowler in the left corner, 19-26.

But another try by the Cantabrians took the score to 19-31.

After 62 minutes, Crown dotted down for NZUW’s fifth try of the game.

The last few minutes were tense, with both teams staunchly defending their lines, but the final whistle blew with the score at 31-25 to the Cantabrians.

Although NZUW didn’t come away with the win, their commitment, passion and heart was clearly viewable. NZUW’s second match saw them fall short 31-17 to the New Zealand Defence Ferns last Saturday, in a well-played match.

NZUW scored the first and last tries in the game, which was played in good spirits.