The Nayland U18 girls rugby team has notched up their third straight victory of the season after beating Nelson girls 38-5 in a dominant performance on Wednesday. This comes on the heels of their victory against Waimea and a preseason victory against Motueka, two sides that met in the finals last year.

The team features players from Year 9 through to Year 13. As well as Nayland students, there is one player from Garin and a player from Tapawera.

Number 8 Penelope Taulafo, who has been acting as captain for the team, praised the way the team had come together this year.

“Our team atmosphere is just coming together. We are really focusing on the idea of the team and just all working together as hard as we can and we all have each other’s backs,” Penelope said. “We are all getting faster and better and fitter.”

Halfback Natania Ngawhau felt the teams’s success came from players becoming more confident in their positions and the growing pool of experience forming in the team, with some good Year 9 players coming through.

“We have quite a few girls who have played before, so they are quite knowledgeable of the game,” Natania said. “We are training really smart and keeping it simple and everyone understands what they are doing.”