Womens
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has been added.
We’re excited to see senior women’s tackle rugby return to Northcote! We’re building on the momentum from our women’s 7s team, who played in the North Harbour and Glenfield Sevens tournaments in November 2023. Our coaching and management trio of Lyle Williams (Coach), Natasha Dallow (Player/Coach) and Anoushka Dallow (Manager) are all set for the 2024 season.
All players aged 17+ are welcome to register – whether you’re experienced, never played before, it’s been a while since you played, or you’re looking to step up from junior rip rugby. If you love the game, love hanging out with a good group of people and looking for that little something else, come and play rugby at the Cote this season.
After months of training, recruiting and keeping the momentum going, the Northcote Women’s team finally ran out onto the pitch on Saturday for their first game of the Auckland 10s season. And what a moment it was!
From the kick off the women showed they were here to play and here to win. The first try came quickly from a cheeky kick down the sideline by Tash Dallow, with Maia Gorst running onto it to score. Waitemata weren’t going to just sit back and let us take the game, they followed up with a try of their own to even up the score 5 all and then another to go ahead 5-10.
The hard work at training was paying off with great work from the forwards to carry the ball and then get it out wide for Kiki to cross over the line, 10 all. Unfortunately, player/coach Tash went down in an awkward tackle and limped off with a swollen ankle, which meant a little rejigging of the backline to fill the halfback role. Kiki dotted down for one more try before halftime to see us go ahead 15-10.
Halftime saw the team looking a little depleted on the reserves bench with 2 players out for the rest of the game and Julz's eye slowly closing over, but this didn’t stop the women from heading back out onto the field to dominate possession and the game.
The second half saw many of our new players settle into the game and really get an understanding of their position on the field. With this, we saw a lot of team plays, moving the ball from pod to pod, protecting the ball and putting in some big tackles. From this massive team effort, Maia crossed over the line for one more try - 20-10. Waitemata added one more try to the end of the game, but not enough to take the win away from the Northcote women!
The team management is so proud of the effort from each and every player who took the field. Some standouts were Jos and Mac, who threw everything at the game and were absolute powerhouses in the forward pack, Anna, who jumped into halfback, the adaptable backline and our debutants Aaliyah, Tessa and Hara.
Thank you to Harlow and Florentina for running the water out for the team. Very much appreciated. Thank you to our supporters both at the game and following the chat online. Lyle, we look forward to having you back on the sideline next week!
