Weekend wrap: all the rugby that was

And I'm still no good at picking it

So after two weeks, the score is Vic 5.5 and Alice 4. I am consistently bad at score predictions but hey, we are all having fun right?

The results are in and I regret saying I would give Vic a point if she didn’t pick her score but won her match.

Before I start my reviews on the matches I saw this weekend, I’d like to soapbox a little on ruck penalties.

The reality is most of a wāhine rugby player’s life in Aotearoa is only refereed by one mid tier mate. I mean no disrespect to the referees when I say this. I know they still largely do this for nothing and cop far too much abuse in the process but it’s important context for bad habits we see creep into the high grade.

It goes like this, top tier refs are allocated to the Premier mens and Premier reserve mens grades and then whoever is leftover is assigned to women. Assistant referees only turn up for finals, semi finals maybe, depending on the region and the grade you’re in.

This stuff matters when it comes to penalties at the ruck which is what we are seeing disrupting flow at the FPC. Offsides, incorrect entry, not supporting your weight, these all go unpenalised or worse, are actually rewarded at club level.

Opening rounds of the Farah Palmer Cup therefore, tend to have a pretty high rate of these penalties until the players learn to do better or in the case of the old heads, relearn!

Anyway, soapbox over, on to the matches.

GAME ONE: Bay of Plenty Volcanix 7, Auckland Storm 3

The arm wrestle in the first half left us scoreless and while there were moments of strong defence, you would say that was more due to poor execution with at least two tries dropped on the line. That was just the vibe of the day with poor handling and ruck work disrupting any chance of flow, making this match hard to watch.

Unless your mates or whānau were playing, I wouldn’t recommend catching a replay.

The only try of the game came late, from a beautifully timed intercept by Azalleyah Maaka. Auckland Storm will be lamenting the points left on the tee with only 1/3 attempts getting over the sticks.

Auckland never found their rhythm. Where in their last matches, players were on shoulders to receive every offload, in this match ball went to ground not hand and daylight ripped through the ruck support play.

For the Volcanix, Kiki Tahere is continuing to look in fine form.

Kiki grew up in Ōtaki and used to kick around on the sidelines of our Wellington Pride team back in 2015 and 2016, when her Mum was our manager. Kiki was a talent early, winning gold in 2018 for 7s at the Youth Olympics games (in a team I’m pretty sure they had to fundraise to take over which is very 1990s). She was subsequently named in the Black Ferns 7s development side.

The thing is when you’re a talent identified that young, you can start to feel a bit like a sausage being squeezed into a casing that doesn’t necessarily fit. Nobody likes to see how a sausage gets made and the same applies I reckon to the gifted teen to high performance pipeline. It can brutal. It can end up stealing large parts of your identity.

So all this to say, it’s nice to see her finding herself and her footing to confidently steer this Volcanix side around the track.

This week Auckland will take on a Cyclone side who are still in the hunt for their first win. Meanwhile the Volcanix have another physical match on the cards as they travel to Waikato.

GAME TWO: Otago Spirit 39 v Northland Kauri 10

Inside knowledge (thanks Vic), tells me just how serious the Spirit are taking things this season. The side are putting in the work with up to four sessions (and this is an amateur league remember!) between the gym and training per week and you are seeing that pay off on the field.

This game was turnover city with ball security both at ruck and in hand, an issue for both teams.

Strong defence held out an early challenge from the Northland Kauri, who spent plenty of the opening 20 in Otago territory. For all that time though, they only came away with 3 points off Muzza’s boot. By contrast it didn’t take Otago many trips into Northland’s half to rack up a 17 point lead at the break.

The second half was all Otago with the exception of a cheeky intercept from Steffi Hooson. Georgia Cormick was tasty off the tee, slotting six from six, not always at the handiest of angles. She was also the key to the pace and width the game was played at, which kept the larger Kauri pack chasing them around the paddock.

Otago with two from two over the stronger Championship sides, they have emerged as early favourites for promotion this season.

Northland will have a chance to redeem their season at home against their old rivals, the Hawkes Bay Tui.

GAME THREE: Wellington Pride 16 v Waikato 23

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, such is the life of a Wellington Pride fan.

Waikato pulling through with a scrappy win away from home in a game that could have gone either way. Wellington spent most of the first half passing the ball to their mate, the ground, putting pressure on themselves that Waikato were all too happy to take advantage of.

Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate was inspirational for Wellington. Pinpoint at lineout time and crushing on defence, she gifted Wellington the opportunity to take the win in the dying moments but they couldn’t convert. My favourite moment for her though was when deliberations were being held before the halftime break about whether or not to take the three and Te Kura, standing on the edge, turned to the grandstand and asked “What do you think we should do?”. Hard case!

Chelsea Semple put on a dominant display to mark her 50th but I couldn’t help but wonder if that could have been mitigated through the steely defence of Monica Tagoai who was only given limited minutes from the bench.

Pride scrums are still making me sad for the most part but there was some hope in the form of Ray Lolo. That woman’s back is so strong and stable, you can set the table and invite your mates over for a three course meal.

The Pride had made 5 changes to their starting lineup that had taken the win over Counties Manukau Heat last week. Honestly why when these two teams profile is so similar? Particularly in the backline when the combinations had been so tidy? The Farah Palmer Cup seasons are run at a sprint so you don’t have the luxury of time to rotate selections.

Wellington have a week off now and maybe it will help? I don’t know this team is so unpredictable.

Waikato will host the Bay of Plenty Volcanix which will see the end of the unbeaten run for one of these teams.

BONUS ROUND: Commonwealth Bronze

Full disclosure, I was in no state to watch the semi final we dropped against Australia having only got home from a night out dancing a few hours earlier.

So I trust Vania Wolfgramm’s assessment that she gave when explaining her tweet to someone had chosen to take in bad faith.

And that’s the game of 7s, you don’t have the luxury of time to fix mistakes so if you make one or two, that’s the match.

There was absolutely no mistake in the bronze play off though. I watched it in bed with headphones in and such was the confidence that they played with that I was able to do this without waking Bailey up. Tries came easily to Blyde and Brazier to give us the half time lead. Which was widened further by Alena Saili who has been impressive at this tournament. Shiray Kaka was EVERYWHERE and played her heart out. The defence though team, ugh, delicious. They were in complete control even without the ball in hand.

Score got more friendly to the Canadians at the finish and perhaps we cleared our bench a little too soon. But the game was over and the medal ours.

No fairytale followed for the Fijiana. Australia just too good and were worthy gold medal winners.

How bloody beautiful is it to have a strong women’s team out of Fiji though? Every time they play, they are shifting perceptions in their homeland of what women are capable of and it’s a joy to watch them build this legacy.

With you,

Alice