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Two local primary school girls were in top form when they reached the finals of the New Zealand Junior Oceania Indigenous Invitational Cup this month.
Kacey Williams, 9, and Ava Brown, 10, were both selected through their North Harbour team to play in the tag rugby competition between March 9 and 11.
Their NZ team played seven matches during the weekend, winding up in second place after losing the final 8-4 to Samoa Blues. Williams, who attends Wellsford School, says despite the loss they did better than anticipated.
“We were pretty excited to reach the final and even though we lost, it was not a thrashing so we can take a positive out of that,” Williams says.
The team was beaten by two Samoan sides during the competition, but qualified for the semi-final, where they dominated Niue 8-0.
“I think our weaknesses were spreading out too much on attack and defence,” Brown says.
The girls said they performed best when ripping tags on defence.
“What we enjoyed most was playing with friends we have made through the sport and having family support us throughout the competition,” Williams says.
Touch rugby continues to be popular at both junior and senior level, with participants filling the Warkworth Showgrounds this season.
Both girls plan to continue playing tag rugby with North Harbour next season and have ambitions to
represent NZ at adult level.
Meanwhile, both the Mahurangi Junior and Senior Touch competitions wrapped up for the season on March 15.
The junior competition boasted a record number of teams, with 600 children taking to the field across 58 sides, up from 44 last season.
Mahurangi Junior Touch co-organiser Fleur Leabourn says the tournament ran well over the 15 weeks.
“It’s a great social sport for boys and girls of all abilities and we hope to see the growth we’ve had continue into next season,” Leabourn says.
First placed in the Year 7 and 8 division were Pink Fluffy Unicorns; in Year 5 and 6, Rubber Duckies; Year 3 and 4, Fluid Interior Flames; Year 1 and 2, Incrediballs.
Participation also stepped up in senior touch, with 25 teams stretching the competition to full capacity.
Mahurangi Senior Touch organiser Bernie Kose says the competition was well balanced, making it a huge success.
“We had four divisions this year and that meant games were close, with four matches going into drop-off on finals night,” Kose says.
Mahurangi College won the Open Mixed Grade while Boomfa took out Social One. Warkworth Fitness won Social Two grade and Puffed and Stuffed were the victors in Social Three.
