By FRANCESCA MOLD
The Shania Twain theme song was the first clue there was something a little different about the game at Auckland's home of rugby, Eden Park, on Saturday.
It was the main event of the day and promised to be a hard-fought game between traditional rivals Otago and Auckland.
But this time it was the country's top female rugby players taking to the waterlogged field to fight it out for the title of NPC champions.
As the last strains of Man, I Feel Like A Woman faded away, so did any belief that because this final involved women it would be different from the kind of hard, gritty rugby associated with the country's top male players.
The game was played at a furious pace.
Passes flew between players like missiles, crunching tackles left women writhing on the ground and the furious rucking made the crowd wince.
It was no-nonsense rugby but bereft of the usual hype, glitz and glamour of a national final.
Missing was the pre-match entertainment, face-painted fans dressed in team colours and drunken macho louts screaming obscenities and waving flags.
The only similarity with the usual Eden Park NPC games appeared to be the obligatory half-time performance of the scantily clad cheerleaders waving their pom-poms as they danced in the rain.
About 600 diehard fans, many of them friends and relatives of the players, made up for their small numbers by being particularly vocal, screaming the usual rugby chants such as "ruck it out" and firing abuse at the referee.
But their shouts of encouragement and support seemed lost in the giant stadium, which usually seats tens of thousands of fans.
Supporters at the game were philosophical about the small showing, saying it was a common problem with all women's sport. They said people seemed to turn their noses up at women's rugby without having ever seen a game.
But the fans were at least able to enjoy plenty of parking, no queues for food or toilets and plenty of room to spread out and relax in the stands.
They were also able to walk away satisfied when home team Auckland took the game by 22 points to 12, with a flying try scored in the dying seconds. It is the second year in a row Auckland have taken home the trophy.
One staunch supporter, Mehi Reihana, 13, said she was inspired by the players, some of whom were members of the Black Ferns team who brought home the World Cup from Amsterdam in 1998. "It's different from when the All Blacks play, but it's something I can aim for."
Women's Rugby: Man, I feel like a woman run through a wringer
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