FELICITY REID, North Shore Times,
Harbour Hibiscus make a return to the national women's rugby competition when they meet the Bay of Plenty Volcanix in Rotorua on August 6.
Coach Bill Wigglesworth says there is a real sense of pride amongst the team as they become the first senior women's side to represent Harbour in over a decade.
"Whilst the team is considerably light on experience at this level, the players have invested heavily into the programme and are ready to showcase their effort and skills against the established women's provincial programmes," Wigglesworth says.
The squad includes three players - Florida Fatanitavake, Rina Paronae and Pia Tapsell - from Harbour's secondary schools programme.
Amongst the multi-talented athletes in the squad is code-hopper Georgia Hale who was named as Auckland Rugby League's women's player of the year in 2015 and has played for the Kiwi Ferns, Fatanitavake who has represented New Zealand in touch and tag and Briar McNamara who has played age-group football for New Zealand.
Black Ferns Charmaine Smith and Chelsea Alley have also been selected.
The majority of the squad played club rugby for East Coast Bays in the premier Auckland competition this season. Six members of the squad were part of the Glenfield team that won the Auckland development competition.
Harbour joins eight other provinces - Auckland, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Manawatu, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago - to vie for the newly named Farah Palmer Cup title.
In preparation for the national competition, Harbour have a chance to defend their New Zealand Women's Rugby Invitational title on July 30.
The teams competing in this year's tournament at QBE Stadium alongside Harbour are Auckland Thunder, Taranaki, Wellington Barbarians, Northland and Waikato Development.
Action gets under way in this pre-season tournament at noon. Each game is 40 minutes.
Harbour Hibiscus: Chelsea Alley, Wicky Au Uva, Gabby Burt, Anein Bester, Hannah Croucher, Rosina Manukau Chewesik, Olivia Ward-Duin, Florida Fatanitavake, Georgia Hale, Emma Iversen, Billie Jones, Nicola Jones, Briar MacNamara, Gloria Molak, Stacy Martin, Claudia McMeekin, Lauren Meyer, Jules Newman, Jemma Palmer, Rina Paronae, Maryke Penman, Jessica Reid, Melissa Robinson, Charmaine Smith, Pia Tapsell, Inga Timani, Justine Vizirgianakis, Helena Waldron and Becky Wood
© 2022 North Harbour Rugby | Web Design by Benefitz.