Columba College First XV Rugby braved the blistering cold on Sunday to compete in the Top 4 School Girl Rugby Competition held annually.

Up against competition front runners, Otago Girls' High School, our team hit the lead early after a moment of brilliance from Year 12-star player Pip and her full-field runaway. Lula converted to give Columba a 7-0 in the first 10 minutes of the match.

It wasn't long before the wintery conditions took over, which favoured the opposition forward pack nicely as they picked off the ruck for two consecutive tries to take the lead into the half. The weather was not going to get any better, but what is rugby without a bit of mud, sweat and tears! Columba held their heads high and marched onto the field for the second 35 minutes. 

Scoring out wide from a perfectly timed offload by midfielder Charli, out to speedster Lyla to dot down in the corner brought a spark back to the dove's lineup. A strong kicking game from first five Maddie and fullback Lula ensured that Columba kept gaining territory throughout with quality distribution of the ball by halfback Asha, this team had connected extremely well across the season. 

A massive amount of grunt work was required by our powerful forwards and they were up for the challenge making it incredibly difficult for OGHS to progress through the field. Ciara was a force to be reckoned with at both ends of the field, coupled with Jendi and Taylor who applied huge defensive pressure making it known their team would not go down without a fight. 

Another opportunity arose down the sideline for our newest NZ Rep Lyla to claim her second try of the game before the final whistle blew ending in a 17-31 scoreline to the opposition. A mammoth achievement and effort by our Columba College First XV who lost to the same team by a much greater margin during the regular season. Amazing to see the improvement of this group, growth of skill development, and visual enjoyment evident. 

Given that Otago Girls' are undefeated in this competition, they will go through to represent our Highlander region against Southland in the hopes of qualifying for the National Top 4 Tournament. We wish them all the very best and are incredibly proud of the overall efforts of both teams in the game we shared together.

Thank you to coaches Nick and Tane for all their guidance and support of this team and of course, our wonderful parent community who battled the weather to be on the sideline. Also, a special shout out to our boarders who fronted up in their blazers and a swarm of green was seen cheering the team along, it made for an awesome atmosphere.