Last Thursday, Nayland College was lucky to have the world champion Black Ferns rugby team visit the school for a training run before Saturday's game against the New Zealand Barbarians.

Students, staff and the public were able to come along to an open training session held on the bottom field.

Several Nayland students were also directly involved in Saturday's game, with Maggie Goomes, Lucy Mahuika and Erica Bowman all acting as ball girls for the match. Lucy was also a participant in the ceremony where the Black Ferns received the key to the city from Mayor Rachel Reese.

For Lucy, who plays first five for the Nayland rugby team, the visit allowed her to interact with players that she idolised such as Selica Winiata, Kendra Cocksedge, Renee Holmes and Amy Du Plessis.

“It was awesome. Hopefully, they come back because it was just an amazing experience,” Lucy said. “To get to know some of the girls and their experiences was inspiring as I got to hear what they needed to do to get where they are.”

It has helped inspire Lucy to follow in their footsteps and become a Black Fern herself one day.

“That is the plan. That is what I want to do. I will have to work my butt off to get there!” Lucy said.

There is a cliché in rugby that ‘it was a team effort’, but it really was a team effort for Nayland to prepare for the visit. The college only had a short amount of time to prepare for the visit, as originally the team were booked in to have their training at a different venue.

PE teacher Jo Cotton, who also coaches senior women’s rugby, was instrumental in getting the team to Nayland. Once she was given permission from Principal Daniel Wilson, there was a flurry of activity needed to ensure that the field, equipment and staff were prepared to receive the Black Ferns, with teachers, caretakers, senior management and students all chipping in. This included a 10 pm field marking session from Ms Cotton and her family the night before.

Nayland rolled out the hospitality for the team, with Pūaha Te Tai (Kapa Haka) welcoming the players to the school and our hospitality department preparing coffee for the players and coaching staff.

Ms Cotton said all the hard work that went into preparing for the team was worth it.

“It was such an amazing opportunity having the Black Ferns and Barbarians in the region where there were only two games played throughout the country,” she said. “I personally, as a Senior Women’s Rugby Coach, relished the experience of seeing them train and felt very privileged to have them in the region and coming to our school.”

Ms Cotton also acknowledged all the support she had had from the school to make it happen.

“Having a welcoming by Pūaha Te Tai was heart-warming. I felt proud of our school and I loved having the support of the school,” she said.

There was also a more personal highlight for Ms Cotton as well, as her daughter got to run the ball onto the field for the game on Saturday.