Round one of the Bay of Plenty Women’s Rugby competition kicks off this Sunday. However, a preseason tournament was held at the Rotoiti Rugby Park at the weekend to ease the teams into competition.
Bay of Plenty Rugby Unions Women’s Development Officer Hayley Kerrison says, “unfortunately we have lost one team but we also got an increase in a team from last year, so Rangiuru is new to the competition, Ngongotaha are out, so we are lucky that we still have an eight team competition.”
Waikite women’s rugby are the current champions and hope to retain the competition title this year.
According to team captain Raiha Stevens, last year’s performance has put them on the edge, “being undefended it's not an easy task where we sit at the moment, so we are very well aware of where we are at and where we are sitting."
During this pre-season tournament it was clear that Waikite and the new team Rangiuru were aiming for the top position.
They faced off in the final game with Waikite pushing forward in the end their experience was too strong for Rangiuru. Waikite defended their title with a 12-7 win over the Rangiuru side.
For the next seven weeks eight teams go head to head in the Bay wide Women’s Rugby competition.