There was treacherous weather conditions but that wasn’t going to stop the Girls Rugby 7s team from going hard, at the annual Auckland Secondary Schools 7s competition which was held at the Waitemata Rugby Club.
Altogether eight girls from Sancta Maria College played in the tournament and seven out of the eight had never played a game of rugby before. Despite their inexperience the girls stayed confident in themselves and the belief showed as the team improved in each game.
The first game we played was against Waitakere College and it was a game where everyone was still trying to get used to tackling and becoming familiar with the rules of the game. Unfortunately we lost that game but the mindset going into the next match was much better and we were able to follow up with an improved game against Avondale College, managing to score our first try of the tournament when Yr 12 speedster Abby Noble-Campbell raced to the try-line, fending off 3 players to grab the 5 pointer. It was a remarkable effort and it was only going to get better.
As the girls fronted up for the last game, it felt like everything just clicked. Adrenalin was pumping, the tackling was brilliant, the girls weren’t scared to take the ball and run, and everyone knew that we didn’t go all that way to give up. So in that last match all the girls did their best and with all guns blazing Abby Noble-Campbell scored two fantastic tries and Sophie Ruka, also a Yr 12 student, scored a beautiful try as well. There was a lot to celebrate and we went out on a high, beating Rutherford College.
Overall it was a really enjoyable day learning so much about the game, whilst getting to play alongside girls who we had never played with before or even met. It was an experience that we’ll definitely never forget.
A big thank you goes to Mr Bacon and Yr 12 Dominic Stolten who did a great job of coaching us and gave up their time to run our training sessions. Also many thanks to Mr Crummer who came out to support us.
Shontelle Matano
