Otene has two years with her school team, along with an accomplished maiden season with MAC women. She says her school XV performed as a unit where everyone carried their weight despite losing to Karamu High School in the Bay secondary schoolgirls' final.
While the talent and depth are prevalent in the side, the 17-year-old suspects the Reva Joseph-coached Flaxmere XV must have been a little stronger up front because of the rep selection of four forwards.
While playing outside the province will lend to the excitement, Otene says playing alongside Bay teammates who were in the opposition in the school competition will be a revelation in itself.
She only started playing rugby two years ago.
"My brother [Shalem Otene, 20] was always picking on me," she says with a laugh, revealing he would run and tackle her.
Otene was no shrinking violet, returning a few "good hits" with interest to her brother.
Before she knew it, she was putting her hand up in a structured school rugby culture.
The Bay rep basketballer believes rugby is creeping up on her first-choice sport.
Edwards is in her first year at Flaxmere College but didn't miss a beat from year 9 at Karamu High.
Having served her third year with HB Tuis and a season with MAC, the 18-year-old finds her nervous system still shudders.
"Playing for the Tuis has toughened me up," she says, after games against Manawatu and the Bay of Plenty this year.
Edwards accepts, with her experience, captaincy is a possibility and it's something she is capable of taking in her stride.
"I'll talk to the girls quite often - where they need to be and what they need to do, but I'll have their backs as well," she says with a smile of assurance.
The ex-Mahora School pupil picked up a rugby ball when she was 10 through club.
No doubt her father, Maraki Edwards, a former MAC player, has been her biggest influence.
When she was selected for the Bay women's sevens team in year 11 at Karamu High School, Edwards realised she had a future in the code.
Teatuanui, who has been in the school equation for two years, is adept at openside or tighthead in the front row.
The second youngest of nine siblings, her rugby christening is interesting.
"I wasn't really like much of a sporty person. I never grew up playing club sport like my younger and older siblings," says the 17-year-old.
"I was like more of a person who just watched from the sidelines."
Only last year her father, Mataora Teatuanui, questioned her resolve on the paddock so she went out to prove a point.
Admittedly Teatuanui merely mucked around in the backyard of their Flaxmere home with her siblings before her dad's provocation.
"He [dad] was shocked that I made it this far. I'm still shocked myself," she says with a grin.
Henare, 17, a Clive player, is the exception when it comes to soothing those nerves.
"I'm pretty excited. I just want to get out there and smash up," says the college head girl, revealing rugby has always been in the blood with mother Jenny Henare playing for Hastings Girls' High School.
The second season Tuis player's introduction to the national sport began at Flaxmere Primary School.
"I went straight into a tackle in the seventh grade against the boys," says Henare, championing the benefits of the age-group team in providing a more structured pathway for female players.
The girls do see the bigger picture in some day helping the Tuis regain the status they once held in the yesteryear in the women's NPC.
College deputy principal Jim Hay-Mackenzie is proud of the girls who have earned their stripes.
"I think they've grown with the game and they are generally very good young women who are leaders in their group so it's more what they've brought to the game, rather than what the game has done for them," says Hay-Mackenzie, when asked how rugby may have moulded them.
He praises coach Joseph, a teacher aide, whose credentials include Ross Shield and touch rugby, for his involvement with the schoolgirls' team.
