Women’s game back with a vengeance
Women’s rugby is alive and kicking in the Far North judging by the turnout for a friendly game at Ahipara on Sunday.
Despite a couple of Black Ferns players bolstering the Te Rarawa lineup, the hosting team’s collective inexperience was exploited by the gamebreakers in a visiting side comprised of players from the Mid North, Bay of Islands and Whangarei.
Although they were eventually well beaten 34-5 (after trailing 17-0 at halftime), the Te Rarawa ladies kept plugging away and were eventually rewarded with the last try in a very well attended and entertaining encounter which was played at pace and with no shortage of quality.
Did someone say, “Last try wins”? More importantly, the match proved women’s rugby is back on the local grassroots sporting radar and planning to capitalise on the growing profile of the sport nationally.
The Far North renaissance is being led by Rawinia Everitt, a member of the Black Ferns side that won the women’s world cup in Ireland last year. Having returned home to the Far North after a coaching stint in Hong Kong earlier this year and learning women’s rugby was no longer being played in the area (after interest in the game at club level dived around the turn of the decade), she set about addressing the situation.
She and partner Aroha Savage (also a current Black Fern) have been promoting the game from out of the Te Rarawa club over winter. Everitt also praised Black Ferns stablemate Te Kura Ngata Aerengamate for her influential work with the kids at Kaitaia College “which, in turn, has really benefited our young ones”.
The trio feature among a handful of players from both teams who travelled to Auckland every weekend during the rugby season to play women’s club rugby for Manurewa.
“I just wanted to get something going . . . There was nothing for them [local women] up here,” said Everitt.
Broader horizons
The main goal is to mould the raw talent in the Far North into a team to play in the Farah Palmer Cup, the women’s national provincial championship, as well as open up other pathways. Everitt cited the example of Rarawa try scorer Jurney Blair, who is heading off to Europe on Friday to play for the New Zealand Dutch U18 sevens team.
Standouts for a slick Kaikohe unit included No 8 Hikitia Wikaira and lock Harono Te Iringa who broke the Rarawa defensive line on a number of occasions; and halfback Ngawaiora Davis, who played for the Northland side which took out their Blues franchise under18 women’s competition (a campaign which included a win over the long-unbeaten Auckland East) — a result which could distinguish that team as the most successful rugby side in the province this year.
Everitt hoped successes like these, along with the spike of interest in the women’s game at grassroots level — as seen in Sunday’s affair — would attract more support from the Northland Rugby Union.
The efforts by Everitt and other stalwarts towards raising the profile of women’s rugby is also producing a variety of other benefits off the field.
“It’s more than just a game for us. It’s about empowering women up here, giving them confidence. Some of them [players] have started making positive changes in their lives,” she said, noting the host team went diving for kina and paua for the aftermatch banquet, “so we could feed our people”.
Everitt said it was hugely inspiring to witness the progress of various players in the Te Rarawa team who had never touched a rugby ball before this season, and she extended a massive thank you on behalf of the team to everyone who turned up to support Sunday’s match.
“I know it was a buzz for our ladies to play at home and in front of their whanau and friends, it was pretty special for them. Who knows some of them may not strip up again and take the field but at least they can look back on what took place today in 20 years’ time and be proud to say they were a part of that legacy and helped create it.”