Historic double-header for women’s game

Loyal local rugby supporters have been invited to turn out in their droves on Saturday and support the two Northland women’s teams playing at Trigg Stadium.

The double-header is a historic occasion and will also be a massive showcase for the women’s game in the province.

The main event will see Northland playing their second match (and their first home game) of the season against Otago in the Farah Palmer Cup.

That match will be curtain raised by the Northland Under 18 women, playing their third match of their debut season in the regional Blues competition, taking on Auckland East. The following is a look back at last week’s results.

FPC

Hawke’s Bay 64 Northland 31 (halftime 33-12): As the new, ‘13th team’ in the competition, Northland kicked off a highly anticipated debut in the national provincial women’s rugby championship with an away loss to Hawkes Bay in week 2 of the Farah Palmer Cup in Napier on Saturday.

The visitors’ points came from tries for Savannah Bodman (3), Harono Te Iringa, and Krystal Murray with the latter adding 3 conversions.

Highlights for the visitors was performing the Ngapuhi haka, Northland being only the second team in the competition to do one alongside Waikato; the mana the players felt after being presented with their jerseys beforehand; while one of the side’s Black Ferns, 1st five Victoria Subritzky Nafatali (who played with Counties Manukau last season), saying how extremely proud she was of her teammates’ performance.

Northland head coach Cheryl Smith said there was plenty to take away from the result.

“First hit-out for us against one of the top teams in the competition and we scored 31 points. That’s really positive for me. Their [Hawke’s Bay] coach came to me after the game and said, ‘We need to watch for you [Northland] down the track’.”

While none of her players had been overwhelmed by the occasion despite only three in the 22-strong squad having experienced competition at this level before, Smith said no one is been under any illusions the season will prove a tough test of character.

However, she was confident the players would rise to meet the challenges which lay ahead and use the opportunity to bond, improve and develop throughout their debut campaign.

The Northland women now prepare to host Otago — who thrashed Taranaki 57-5 in Otago on Sunday — in the first home game of the season at Trigg Stadium this Saturday afternoon, kick off at 2pm. Smith said the girls would love to see a big home crowd come out in support.

The only home game for the Northland FPC team at Semenoff Stadium this year is against North Harbour on Sunday, September 22, a curtain raiser for the Taniwha’s Mitre 10 Cup match against Bay of Plenty.

Under 18s

The other newly formed Northland women’s team in action on Saturday was the under 18s who lost away to North Harbour 45-27 in the Blues competition.

Head coach Josh Hyde noted this latest performance represented a “massive improvement” from the previous week’s opening round loss by 70-7 to Auckland West.

“We were able to turn around and put a performance together we are pretty proud of . . . It was a massive improvement defensive-wise against a big, strong Harbour team. A good game, and we scored some good tries.”

Like Smith above, Hyde emphasised it was for most players, their first year playing outside of the domestic secondary schools competition.

“The culture of the team is about development but also about being better people, it’s all about being positive,” he said, adding the side boasted a very strong Far North presence with 10 girls from the Kaitaia College 1st XV alone.

The Northland U18 women play Auckland East at Trigg Stadium on Saturday, kicking off at 12pm to curtain raise the FPC clash.

Taniwha

In other belated rugby news, the Northland Taniwha suffered their fourth loss on the trot in week 5 of the Mitre 10 Cup, narrowly going down 31-25 to Manawatu in Palmerston North last Thursday.

The Far North standout was Kerikeri halfback Sam Nock who scored a try for the visitors.

The result left Northland sitting 6th, second-tobottom, on the lower tier Championship standings, ahead of the home match against Otago tomorrow.

Otago are currently sitting in third spot on the ladder, with three wins from five games after having successfully defended the Ranfurly Shield against Taranaki over the weekend. Will it be a Black Friday for the loyal supporters?

■ Additional reporting by Adam Pearce,