The YouthTown Condor Sevens National Secondary Schools Regional Qualifying Tournament was a milestone on the Ngā Puna Wai calendar, as the first ever rugby event held at the community sports hub and hugely exciting for the 19 female and male teams involved – many for the first time ever.

On Wednesday November 4, Secondary School teams from across Otāutahi gathered at Ngā Puna Wai for this very special event in the hopes of qualifying for the National YouthTown Condor Rugby Sevens Finals held in the North Island in December.

The event was not only a chance to once again showcase the versatility and wide scope of Ngā Puna Wai, but a chance for many female students in particular, to have a go at a new format of rugby and a first taste of the game at all for some.

Perhaps inspired by the top-ranked New Zealand Sevens Women and recent Farah Palmer Cup title winners, the Canterbury Women, several female teams entered for the first time. Villa Maria, the Haeata female team and Rangi Ruru were among some of these teams and St Margaret’s fielded a second team for the first time of novice players.

“My family is quite a rugby family, my brother plays rugby in America, my grandad was an All Black, but none of the girls in the family have ever actually played rugby,” said Rangi Ruru year 13 student, Claudia O’Shannessey.

“We usually row in the summer, but the year 13’s are free this year so we thought why don’t we get a sevens team together. It’s pretty cool because none of us have played rugby whatsoever but we’ve always seen the male members in our family play. So, we got all the athletic girls in the school, made a team and literally started training four weeks ago, learning how to tackle and basically everything there is to it,” she adds.

Mandy Anderson, Director of Sport at Rangi Ruru added to this further, saying, “This is the first time that we have had a sevens team playing at this tournament, it’s pretty exciting. The year 13’s have driven it as a way of doing something social but competitive in term 4 and are really excited to be part of the tournament. Very cool for the girls to be here at Ngā Puna Wai  getting to play - they are just loving it.”

Also there on the day, in a role he’s not so well known for was Blair Baxter, the Coach for the Canterbury Women. “We just won the national title on Saturday (31 October), and today we are at Ngā Puna Wai for the Condor Sevens Qualifiers. Different role for me this time, I’m refereeing and I’m super excited to get out there with the whistle and control the game.”

For many of the players, it was also the first time they had played sport at Ngā Puna Wai, which further added to the excitement of the occasion. 

“I’ve never played here personally before and it’s pretty incredible, such nice grounds and awesome facilities, it’s so cool to be able to use this as students here,” said O’Shannessey.

While year 13 Rangi Ruru student Abby Kneebone added, “I’ve been here to watch the hockey and its really incredible for Christchurch to have a facility like this, it’s so nice to be able to come here for any type of sport, it’s such great grounds.” 

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Article added: Wednesday 11 November 2020