A talented group of eight females bonded to help Te Teko take the title at the recent Whakarewarewa Sports Festival.

With a women’s touch team back in action this year after a few years in the wilderness, the next step was a sevens team. The final step is to now create a women’s 15-a-side team, which they last had about five years ago.

Dean Eruera, who is manager for the touch and sevens side, will also be involved with the 15s team. He said they were eager to create one again and hoped to build on the success of the women’s sevens team. They were open to anyone wanting to give it a crack.

With netball and rugby sevens the sports on show at Whakarewarewa in Rotorua, Te Teko decided to enter a women’s rugby team and with just eight players could have found the going tough, but they managed to bond and win the tournament overall.

It was a young Te Teko side, featuring the rising Hazel Gates-Paul, speedster Nivaloh Elliot, a player to watch in Reve Ngaheu and the talented Kokako Raki, who was part of the Bay of Plenty Volcanix earlier this season.

First up was a match against Mount Maunganui, a heavyweight in women’s rugby in the Bay of Plenty, and a spirited showing by Te Teko saw them lose by just three points.

In the second match, they took on fellow Eastern Bay side Poroporo and took the spoils, before beating Ngongotahā and Whakarewarewa in their final two matches, to see them emerge victorious.

Coach Hudz Ngaheu said he was proud of the team and their performances throughout the day.

“The Whakarewarewa 7s were an awesome start on getting Te Teko women’s rugby up and running again. A lot has been going on in the background and it was a pleasing sight to see our Te Teko women take to the field and represent our little town proudly.”

Ngaheu had easily the youngest team to work with for the tournament, with his players between 16 and 19 years old.

“They brought a lot of heart and skill to the tournament and didn’t back down.”

He said the chance to represent Te Teko meant a lot for the girls.

“Some of the girls have represented a lot of age-group teams in different codes and rugby, and now wanted to put their efforts into playing for the Te Teko women’s team and helping restart it.”

He said it would be the best way to keep more talent in the region.

“It’s the best way to utilise their skills and stop them going elsewhere and nothing like representing where you are from.”

He hoped they could provide a platform for girls from Te Teko when they leave school and give them an opportunity to play for their hometown.

Ngaheu was full of praise for Raki and her efforts.

“It was great having her play. She is paving the way for younger women. A great role model and natural leader who always wanted to play for her hometown.”

He said turning up at Whakarewarewa with just eight players left him feeling a bit unsure on how’d they go.

“We had Mount first up and kicked off with a bang leading 10-0 at halftime then fitness kicked in and with four girls trying to sub at once it was a good eye opener, but we soldiered on and lost by three points.”

Ngaheu said they remained positive for the remainder of their clashes.

“We thought after that close loss that we could do this and after a few conversations about support play and defence we went on our way to put our youths on the women’s stage by winning the next three matches by a good margin.

“We were hoping to play the Mount again, but ended up winning the tournament on most points scored in the round robin.”

Ngaheu said all the girls played well and were a joy to coach.

“They all come from a rugby background, so all I had to do was put them together and run a simple defence and attack system and let them do their thing. It was wicked to watch. Nivaloh and Kokako led the way with their destroying defence and counter attacks, which gave the younger girls the inspiration to follow suit.”

Ngaheu said it was a good start for Te Teko and they hoped they could build on the sevens success with the hopeful forming of a 15s team again.