Three Eketahuna players were part of the Manawatu Cyclones women's rugby team who pushed last year's national provincial championship finalists, Wellington Pride, hard last weekend.
Wellington won 10-5, a huge improvement from Manawatu compared with last year when they suffered a 50-point hiding.
Manawatu coach John Kendal was delighted with the impact made by Eketahuna trio, Amy Williams, Tatiana Tafatu and Black Fern Shakira Baker, saying they had all done well enough to be "right in the mix" for this year's NPC campaign, which will kick off with a home game against Waikato on Saturday, September 15.
Before that Manawatu will play another "friendly"in Palmerston North tonight and Kendal expects to name his 22 players for the Waikato match by next Monday.
