Rugby: Black Ferns hooker returns to Tui nest

Forne Burkin (centre) with Canterbury teammate Becky Davidson and No 1 fan Hine after last year's Premiership final. Photo/Photosport

Black Ferns rugby hooker Forne Burkin has returned home and will play for Hawke's Bay in this season's Farah Palmer Cup Championship.

Big Barrel Hawke's Bay Tui coach Steve Woods was delighted to announce Burkin's signing when he named his 30-strong squad after the weekend's final trial at Taradale. While Burkin didn't play in the trial she arrived back in the Bay on Sunday and will be at the squad's training session tonight.

"This is great news to have a player of Forne's quality come home. She is poised for a long international career and we will benefit from that," Woods said.

Burkin, 20, made her Black Ferns debut with 15 minutes off the bench during this month's win against the United States at the Super Series in San Diego. Fellow Tui and Black Ferrns first five-eighth Krysten Cottrell was just as thrilled as Woods to welcome Burkin home from Christchurch.

"Even before Forne left Hawke's Bay she was a really talented player who worked hard.

"Coming back to our environment she will be able to show players what you can achieve if you work hard for it," Cottrell said.

"She is really humble and down to earth. It's awesome to have her home."

A former Napier Girls' High School player who first played rugby for Waipawa United as a 12-year-old, Burkin, played for the Central Ross Shield team in 2011. In 2017 she started in all six first class games for the Hawke's Bay Tui to repeat what she did for the side in 2015 while still a student at NGHS.

Last year she started in all eight matches for the Canterbury team which thrashed Counties-Manukau 52-29 in the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership final.

Cottrell, 27, who has been playing first class rugby for more than a decade agreed with Woods and predicted a Championship final finish for the Tui this season.

"That can definitely happen. Everyone is working hard which is really cool."

"There is plenty of depth in the squad. We are a small side but always have been and always will be. We just need to stick together, work as a team, stick to our structures and show our individual flair that we all bring to the table," she added.

Three-time world champion Black Ferns halfback Emma Jensen, 41, is back for another season with the Tui. Add the likes of former Counties-Manukau lock Hanna Brough and former Aotearoa Maori Sevens rep and Kiwi Ferns rugby league rep Chanel Huddleston and it's easy to gauge why Woods and Cottrell are oozing confidence.

Woods was impressed with the quality of play during Saturday's trial.

"The skills were classy and all of the players gave it a crack. It's very exciting times for women's rugby in the Bay."

A highlight of the trial was Karamu High School fullback Cortez Te Pou scoring five tries. Te Pou was one of six Bay girls who attended the recent national Maori under-18 training camp in Rotorua and she displayed the benefits of that experience.

Woods expects Te Pou to put plenty of pressure on incumbent Tui fullback Shaylee Tipiwai who started in all seven of the team's first class fixtures last year. Tipiwai didn't attend the trial as she is on a cruise ship holiday being staged as part of former Tui Deidre Hakopa's 50th birthday celebrations.

"I've been on the same ship and I told Shaylee there are 15 flights of stairs. If she ran those each morning it would help keep her fitness levels up so it will be interesting to gauge her levels when she gets back."

The Tui open their Championship campaign with a home match against newcomers Northland at Napier's Park Island on Saturday, September 7. They will have two warm-up matches, one against Bay of Plenty in Taupo on August 10 and one against Manawatu in Palmerston North on August 17.

The Hawke's Bay Tui squad is:
Nicolette Adamson, Davina Atkin, Michaela Baker, Sylvia Bockman, Hanna Brough, Kathleen Brown, Forne Burkin, Krysten Cottrell, Lukika Faavae, Teani Feleu, Kara Huata, Chanel Huddleston, Te Aroha Hunt, Rebekah Hurae, Tori Iosefo, Niamh Jefferson, Emma Jensen, Teagan Meyer, Liana Mikaele-Tu'u, Te Maari MacGregor, Holly Macdonald, Whitley Mareikura, Whitney Olsen, Ashley Palu, Felicity Powdrell, Jennifer Simati, Jess Taueki, Cortez Te Pou, Shaylee Tipiwai, Gemma Woods.
Extended Wider Squad under-18s: Tuia Edwards, Amber McKenzie, Anna Powdrell.
Injured players in contention: Natalie Cotton, Lara Kendrick.