On Friday 2 September a group of 14 students from Year 9 and 10 had the opportunity to participate in the first Otago U15 Secondary School Girls' Rugby Tournament, held here in Dunedin. 

It was a fantastic day with 10 schools from around the Otago and Southland regions competing. The event was initiated by Warren Kearny who was appointed this year as the Otago Development Officer for female rugby players. The focus of the tournament was to introduce new players to the game, to develop the skills of young female rugby players and for the participants to have fun.

The OGHS team certainly achieved all these goals. We witnessed some great skills from the girls, where they showed commitment and dedication to tackling when on defence, some evasive and strong running skills and the ability to draw and pass to score some great tries. The team won three of their five games to end up fourth which was a great achievement after only having had one training together as a team. We look forward to their progress in the future. I wonder who will be the next OG’s girl to wear the black jersery!

An exciting part of the day was having the opportunity to meet some of our New Zealand Women’s Rugby 7’s players, including ex girl – Kelly Brazier, who had recently been competing in the Rio Olympics. At the end of the tournament there was a question and answer session as well as an opportunity to get signatures and photos will our inspiring Olympians.