Maryanne so faithful

Having a "slightly fiery" personality, rugby seemed the perfect outlet for Maryanne Ranapia.
Thirteen years later, she is at the helm of the Northland Maori women's rugby team, who on Saturday progressed to the Northern Regional Tournament in Rotorua, kicking off on March 5.
"I was a bit of an angry person and needed some kind of way to let off steam - rugby seemed perfect as you could be part of a team as well," the tighthead prop said.
The Northland skipper joined Hora Hora Rugby Club 13 years ago and has played every season since, and said making the province's Maori team was a great honour.
"It means a lot - it makes you feel part of something and it helps to keep people out of trouble. While I am from Te Whanau a Apanui originally and not of Northland origin, I have lived my life here - and feel part of Northland - it's home."
With the cancellation of the women's National Provincial Competition last year, the season was shortened significantly but the Maori tournaments gave players added incentive to keep fit.
"With the Maori rep season we are kept busy for around seven months... which is a lot shorter than when we played NPC - we would play for nine to ten months of the year," Ranapia said.
While it was feared the cancellation of the NPC would see numbers drop, Ranapia said it seemed as if numbers in Northland were on the rise.
"We had 11 club teams playing in the Whangarei competition alone at one stage and we went down to just five teams... but we are trying to get eight teams playing this season. There seems to be some interest out there which is great."
A lot of the girls involved in Northland rugby had been playing for more than eight years, Ranapia said, so it was important to grow the game to give up-and-coming players a path to follow.
"There are girls coming through in secondary schools so it's important to continue what we've got going already."
Northland women booked a place in the Te Hiku O Te Ika (Northern) Tournament at Rotorua International Stadium next week, despite losing to Auckland on Saturday at Hikurangi. They qualified on a countback of points.
Arihiana Marino scored the first try for Northland with a good stepping run. Darcie Claridge scored their second try with Aroha Heta registering the third.
However, overall the Auckland backs were too fast and skilful out wide and Auckland trumped their hosts 48-15.
Although they lost, Ranapia said she was happy with how the team went and were set to meet Auckland again in the Northern regions' final next week.
"It wasn't bad for our first game of the season ... what we did do right was good - and now we know what we have work on."
The Central and Southern regions' tournaments were held at the weekend, and once the Northern tournament is contested, each region will select representative teams for men, women and under-21s to compete against the other regions over three weekends in March, with the George Nepia Memorial Shield the supreme prize awarded to the Maori region with the most overall points.
Meanwhile, the women's teams will be vying for the Dr Farah Palmer trophy.