Women?s rugby resumes under lights this weekend

Above: The big hits continue for Tawa and Hutt Old Boys Marist women’s sides who both play under lights on Friday night in the third round of the Fleurs Trophy competition.

After having the Anzac weekend off, the Premier Women’s competition resumes, but with a difference with a Friday Night Lights edition for three of the four matches.

Only one of those Friday matches will take place on grass, with?Tawa?and?Northern United?(leaders on points difference) making use of the floodlights in place at Lyndhurst Park. Tawa have been held scoreless in their first two outings and their first aim will be to get points on the board. That won’t be easy however as Norths haven’t conceded a point in their two outings so far.

The other two Friday matches are on artificial pitches. After facing Norths in their first outing for the year it doesn’t get any easier for?Poneke when they host the other powerhouse, champions?Oriental-Rongotai, on the St Patrick’s College turf. The hosts will look to build on the learnings from their first-up effort, while the Lady Magpies will aim for a repeat of their solid outing against Wainuiomata.

The artificial turf at Johnsonville’s Alex Moore Park – completed late last year – will play host to its first competitive club match when Johnsonville?face?Hutt Old Boys Marist. It’s been a tough introduction for the Helston girls and they’ll be seeking to make incremental improvements, while the Eagles got themselves into the winner’s column in beating Tawa last weekend.
The three night games kick-off at 7.45 pm.

Lastly, the remaining match will be at Fraser Park on Saturday at 11.30am between home side?Avalon?and visitors?Wainuiomata.?Originally also slated for Friday night, it has been moved to Saturday and grass as the certification for the new artificial pitch there has yet to come through. Avalon have had the past two weeks off, having had the bye in round 2 following their 142-0 win over Johnsonville to start the season, where no fewer than 9 players managed to score two tries and Kat Simpkins took a 36-point personal haul. Wainuiomata opened the season by beating Tawa, but were shackled by Ories two weeks ago. The outcome of this match is likely to sit somewhere between those two results. ?

Old Boys University?has the bye this week.

Women’s Rugby news

Wellington Pride testing

The first round of testing is complete. Sessions were held at the Avalon, Old Boys University and Johnsonville rugby clubs and were well attended by selected club and college players. The Pride will be communicating details of the next testing very soon.

Number of women club players increasing

From last year’s registrations of 275, we have currently 288 registrations in women’s rugby. There is talk of three other clubs working on entering a Women’s team for 2016. So this is promising for the Women’s game.

Former WRFU Girls Rugby RDO Lesley McKenzie now in Wanganui

Wellington Rugby lost a valued member in the girls space, taking a RDO position in the Wanganui. Lesley has been instrumental in fostering the development in junior and college girls rugby. The Wellington Girls U18 and Whirlwind Girls rugby programme has been the main driver in Lesley’s strategy. WRFU wishes her all the best in the Wanganui. ??

Women’s Rugby Advisory Panel

A reminder that a women’s representative/advisory group is to be established and consulted on women’s rugby matters. WRFU are seeking expressions of interest for the newly created Women’s Rugby Advisory Panel (WRAP). This closes today Friday 1 May. For more go here?

Girls College Grading games next Thursday May 7

The first round kicked off on Thursday 30 April, here’s the schedule for next week’s games (draw, venue & timings are subject to change):

Thursday, 7 May all games at 4.15pm

Regional Preseason 12'S

• HVHS v Paraparaumu HVHS 1
• Taita v Sacred Heart Taita 1
• Aotea v St Catherine's Aotea 2
• Porirua v Well East Porirua 1

Wellington Zone Grading 10's

• Well Girls' v Tawa Martin Luckie 2
• Well. High v St Mary's Te Whaea Art

Western Zone Grading 10's

• Mana v Aotea Mana 1
• Kapiti v Bishop Viard Kapiti 1
• Upper Hutt v Naenae Upper Hutt 1