Aldworth impressive in Pride’s shock draw

The more physical the game of rugby the better Emma Aldworth likes it.
So the 20-year-old Eketahuna No.8 was in her element when starring for Wellington Pride in their shock 10-10 draw with hot favourites Auckland in the NPC match played at the Hutt Recreation Ground last Saturday.
Aldworth often had to take the ball up off the back of an unsettled scrum and she relished the opportunity to do so.
"It was awesome....I loved it," Aldworth said "It's good to get on the hands on the ball and have a go, I guess it's my type of game."
It wasn't only at scrum time, however, where Aldworth made an impression. She and her Eketahuna teammate Perri Tatana were also responsible for a number of the turnovers won by Wellington Pride during a second half in which they played into the face of a gusty wind.
There too it was the willingness to muscle up against a big and mobile Auckland pack which was Aldworth's greatest attribute but for the Masterton nurserywoman it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Loose forwards have to be prepared to scrap for the ball, don't they?" she said. "You don't really think about it, you just get in there and do it."
Emma Aldworth first got serious about her rugby while a third former at Tararua College. Her first few games were on the wing-"they put all the new girls there" -
but as her college career blossomed she moved into the five-eighths and then to flanker.
And it didn't take long either for her to make her mark in senior women's club rugby as a member of the Eketahuna side which initially took part in the Manawatu competition, quickly grabbing the attention of their representative selectors and making her debut appearance for Manawatu at NPC level three seasons back when they won the division two title
It was in the early stages of her stint with Manawatu that Aldworth was moved to No.8 and she makes no secret of it being her preferred position. "You are in the game a lot there and that's what I like," she said.
Aldworth sees the decision of Eketahuna to contest the Wellington premier division competition this season as being a definite plus to her achieving her long term ambition of playing for the Black Ferns.
It meant having hard, physical games on a regular basis and an Eketahuna squad which Aldworth describes as "one big happy family" exceeded all expectations by making the grand final where they were narrowly beaten by Northern United.
And the icing on the cake came when no fewer than six Eketahuna players were named in the Wellington NPC side- Aldworth, Tatana, Rebecca Mahoney, Shakira Baker, Michele Clarke and Maia Tua-Davidson- and two more in the Manawatu NPC squad, Jess Bennett and Raylene Reiri.
Aldworth is confident that after an opening round 22-5 win against Otago and the draw with a Black Ferns-laden Auckland the Wellington Pride will be serious contenders for the national title.
"We are in with a good show, we've started well and we should only get better," she said.
This Saturday sees the Pride taking on Manawatu in Palmerston North and for Aldworth it will be the first time she has played against the green-and-whites rather than with them. "I guess it will be a bit strange ..........but I won't mind beating them," she quipped.