The Under 15’s rugby side have been playing in a regular Wednesday 10 aside competition.

This is the first year that girls' Rugby have had this opportunity and the idea behind the competition is to allow girls to develop and grow in confidence before progressing with the sport. In the past Year 9 girls have often gone from playing under 13’s rugby to playing against Year 13’s. The Otago Girls' Under 15’s team had many girls fairly new to the game and over the course of six weeks and the guiding hand of Mr Tony Gomez we have seen a huge improvement in their understanding of the game and the level they were playing at. The girls went to tournament complimented by four of the Year 9 and 10 players that have helped steer the 1st XV to the finals of the School Girls' rugby competition.

The tournament saw 14 teams from across Otago and Southland all come together at Pirates rugby ground. The first game saw the girls take on Central Southland College Tigers. The team were an unknown package and had height on their side. In a to and fro game the girls managed to out muscle this team and superior handling meant that Otago Girls' managed to cruise to victory. The second game was against Southland Girls' and was a tighter affair. It was great to see Rawina Ngamoki-Moana continuing her success off her boot. This meant we went into half time 10-7 down. The second half was a much different story with forwards like MaryAngel Fretton and Charlotte Thompson running more directly at the opposition. This coupled with the tireless work of Ella Gomez securing great ball for Toyah McFarlane to feed Oceana Campbell who was in unstoppable form. She seemed to find space where there was none and was powerful when encountering the defence picking up three great tries. Unfortunately her tournament was cut short after a leg knock. The girls all worked hard to finish off the game and were very happy with the win.

The final game of the first round was against local rival Queens who were bolstered by a number of Tahuna girls. With Oceana out Rawinia was set to take the reins at first five and Toyah was given a rest with Natalie Newstead taking the role of halfback. The starting kick off was charged onto by Rawina who took on the ball at electric pace. Unfortunately she was met by a heavy tackle and this led to another leg injury for the squad. Captain of the day Xanthe Maole then took it upon herself to lead from the front powering through a number of the opposition. With Toyah McFarlane's only rest of the day coming to an abrupt end she was thrown back into the action and with the likes of Susmita Khattri powering forward this gave Toyah space to pick up three tries of her own. Another knock to Xanthe saw her also go to the sidelines for treatment. This was a great win for Otago Girls' and led them to the top spot.

In the semi final the girls were now playing Iron Man with no bench to turn to. St Hildas represented a massive challenge for the girls. Though relatively new to the game the likes of Portia Prescott, Enja Mcneil and Petra McNutt-Milne had grown throughout the tournament and they certainly shone in the semi. Myah Durning completed a series of mazy runs to be cruely caught short of the line. Charlotte Thompson, now captaining the side, made great decisions as the defence pressed St Hildas into mistakes and a series of quick tap penalties saw her close to breaking the line. Alas it was a bridge too far for the girls and they ended up losing the match, with St Hildas going on to win the tournament. They had kept the ball well and played through several phases and been agonisingly close to scoring.

All in all a great day of rugby finished of by some selfies with the World cup and wise words from the Silver Ferns.