College Sport: 'Lil Sistas' look to defend title

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The Tangaroa Under 15 sevens side won the inaugural Condors title last year.

There is a lot to live up to for Tangaroa College's Under 15 girls' sevens team.

In December, the side - known as the 'Lil Sistas' - won the inaugural Condors Under 15 girls' title, a source of great pride for the South Auckland school, shutting out Howick 29-12 in the final. A billboard at the school's entrance parades their success.

There is a strong rugby and touch culture at Tangaroa, but the girls' sevens programme has been running for only three years. Already they have won two Under 15s titles.

Consisting mainly of Years 9-10 players, the Lil Sistas will look to captain Marlene Futi-Va'a, the sole Year 11 student, for guidance as they set off on a journey they hope will culminate in the chance to defend their Condors title in December.

"It was all about turning up, training, communicating on the field, and it was a tight group," said Futi-Va'a. "Now in 2015 it's about training hard and getting to know each other."

They will miss Lamua Ta'avili who was tournament MVP, but has moved up to the Under 19 Tangaroa side. Futi-Va'a will look to Nive Taulanga, who was also in the Condors tournament team, to help the younger girls. "We realised that the interest would be there for sevens once they announced that the sport would be part of the Olympics. It's a perfect opportunity for our Pacific Island girls to have a go and they can play," says coach and manager Kirk Jennings.

Skills sessions run by the Auckland Rugby Union were beneficial for last year's crop and Jennings hopes he can tap into that knowledge again.

Good numbers turned up for the first training session two weeks ago, and Jennings says he will have a good base to work from as they suit up for the Aotearoa Cup Under 15s sevens over the next three weekends.

As for the name? "We were trying to think of a name to call them and we said: 'You are not big girls yet, you are little girls, still 13 or 14," said Jennings. Little girls thinking big.