Palmer pleased with NPC and direction of women’s rugby

Farah Palmer is a global women’s rugby icon, having played 35 Test matches for the Black Ferns and represented Otago, Waikato and Manawatu at provincial level. In 2014, Palmer was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame and two years later the National Provincial Championship was named after her.

Palmer was initially reluctant to have a trophy bearing her name.

“It was in 2016 they convinced me to let that happen. I agreed on the basis that it was all about women and encouraging them to play the game,” Palmer recalls.

Palmer started playing rugby well before the inaugural NPC happened in 1999. The growth of the game has been considerable.

“When I started playing rugby there was no structured competition. The game went through waves of popularity, increasing after the Black Ferns won the World Cup, but struggling a bit when the profile wasn’t as high. It’s amazing we now have the coaches, competitions and structures in place to sustain a 12-team competition,”  Palmer says.

Palmer attributes the growth of female rugby to more pathways being available for women to compete.

“Rugby’s our national game. We grow up with an oval ball so it’s not surprising to see many women wanting to play. Kiwis want to watch women’s rugby. The recent test matches between the Black Ferns and Australia had 250,000 people watching on Sky,” Palmer enthuses.

Palmer has watched plenty of NPC this season and has been impressed by reigning champions Canterbury.

“Canterbury are having a great season. They’ve got a lot of experience and have risen the bar,” Palmer observers.

Wellington have also caught of the former Black Ferns skipper.

“Wellington is a team that have always had a lot of potential and never quite reached it. I’ve been very impressed with their play this season. They have big, athletic forwards and have played some amazing rugby.”

Taranaki was beaten by Wellington 118-0 while 15-time winners Auckland have been relegated from the Premiership to the championship. Are the form of these two unions are concern?

“If Taranaki can hang in for another year I think they’ll improve a lot. They have a lot of desire and organised competition for the first time. Auckland’s demise is a surprise as they have a lot of Black Ferns in their team, but I don’t think it's a concern. I guess we need to figure out what’s going on, but at the same time it illustrates how other unions have lifted their game,” Palmer responds.

Lifting youth participation is a major goal for Palmer.

“There is a perceived lack of coaches and resources in the regions. Growing competition and creating more pathways to the black jersey is a key for the development of the game. In the future I would like to think we could have a Super Rugby type competition for women,” Palmer observes.

In the meantime Canterbury hosts Counties Manukau in the Premiership final at 12.05pm at Rugby Park, Christchurch and Wellington hosts Otago at Jerry Collins Stadium, Porirua at 1pm in the Championship decider. This fixture is live on Te Upoko o Te Ika from 1.00pm on Saturday

This interview is brought to you in association with Te Upoko o Te Ika 1161AM. Listen to this Saturday's Championship final live from 2.00pm.