Northland's top rugby players are getting ready for action against Hawke's Bay on Saturday, from left, Trish Vaka, Manaia Webb, Tyler Nankivell and Leilani Erwin. Photo / Supplied
Northland's top rugby players are getting ready for action against Hawke's Bay on Saturday, from left, Trish Vaka, Manaia Webb, Tyler Nankivell and Leilani Erwin. Photo / Supplied
This weekend will be fondly remembered in the memories of Northland's women's rugby community.
That's because on Saturday at 1pm at Park Island in Napier, Northland's inaugural Farah Palmer Cup team will play its first match in the country's top women's rugby competition against Hawke's Bay.
The squad of 28 players, along with a nine-player development group, was publicly announced on August 19 and the group has been hard at work to prepare for their first official game in the competition's championship division.
With players scattered across Northland, the team has been holding regional trainings on Tuesdays in Kaitaia, Kaikohe and Whangārei as well as a full squad training on Thursdays.
A squad of 22 players will fly out of Kerikeri tomorrow which will hopefully make for a settled morning in the Bay before the afternoon game.
Former Black Ferns Cheryl Smith (left) and Susan Dawson will be the masterminds behind Northland's inaugural Farah Palmer Cup season this year. Photo / Supplied
Nerves shouldn't be a problem for a good portion of Northland's starting 15 which could feature at least seven players who have had international experience in rugby, league or touch, as well as three more players who have reached the national age-group level.
Northland assistant coach and former Black Fern Susan Dawson was excited to be only days away from the first game and said preparation had gone well over the past month.
"The month before a competition kicks off, it's pretty intense, there's lots happening and everybody has been getting to know each other," she said.
"Obviously, we've got international players playing with girls who have only ever played four games of 15s so there's quite a contrast... but the team is having really good practises and is working as a team to make solutions."
Dawson, who represented Northland from 1995 until the early 2000s, said Saturday's game would be much more than just 80 minutes of rugby for many players in this year's squad.
"It may be first time they've said, 'I am actually going to disappear and do something for myself because I want to do something for myself', it's more than a game in that way," she said.
"There is a real sense of pride and whanau from the players... you don't just chuck on a pair of boots and play, it's different, it's more emotional, more loaded."
When Northland take the field in two days time, they will not do so timidly. Dawson revealed the squad had some heavy hitters who were keen to make their physical presence known to the Hawke's Bay side.
Current Black Fern and Northland hooker Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate (right) has been kept busy, seen here doing an interview at a training in Kaikohe on Tuesday night. Photo / Frank Malley
Dawson said the main point of focus for the season would be to develop the players' basic skills so the team could achieve a more complex execution of formation and tactics.
"We are always going to be a confrontational side, no worries with tackling and bringing assertive-type play so it's about bringing that flair and developing the precision."
In Northland's women's club rugby competition this year, which was re-started after about a four-year absence, injuries and player availability became a debilitating factor for teams which struggled to field a full squad of players each week.
Dawson said teams never knew when or if injury would hit during a season, but she noted a strength of the Northland team was its adaptability across the park.
"We can take 22 [players] away and there is literally 18 players who can play other positions, so within the group we can cover a lot ourselves."
While Hawke's Bay will prove a tough opponent with a very experienced 9/10 combination, Dawson said the main objective of the weekend for the players was enjoyment.
"Not many of us get the opportunity, I never got to play Farah Palmer Cup so just enjoy it."
