Rugby: Girls get the message at scrum time

Ema Whareaorere, from Bethlehem's Te Wharekura o Mauao, on the charge against Trident High School at Paengaroa yesterday. Photo/Andrew Warner

Crouch, bind, set.

The familiar referee's instructions at scrum time were heard at a Bay of Plenty schoolgirls' rugby match for the first time yesterday.

Contestable scrums are in play this season at secondary school level for the increasing number of girls playing the game, and the safety message was stressed at the Girls' Secondary Schools Rugby College Day at Paengaroa.

The day, hosted by Bay of Plenty Rugby, began with a "scrum factory" delivered to the coaches and front rowers by Darryl Suasua from the NZRU and Bay of Plenty Rugby's Pingi Tala'apitaga and Reuben Parkinson.

Suasua said the NZRU had a women's strategy to help grow the game and one of the goals was to increase participation among schoolgirls.

"Bay of Plenty has done a lot of work in that area," he said. "At the tournament today, we wanted to ensure they knew about safety in the scrums. The domestic safety law says you are not allowed to push in the scrum unless you have done a specific scrum safety session, so that is why Kyle [McLean] organised us to help out today."

McLean, Bay of Plenty Rugby's secondary schools rugby manager, said one of the major purposes yesterday was to get teams from throughout the Bay together so they could upskill them.

"They picked it up pretty quickly," he said. "It is one area of the game we wanted to get right and we will continually try and push for safety in that area."

McLean was encouraged by the increase in teams contesting this year's Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Girls' competition, which kicks off next Wednesday.

"It is great to see so much growth," he said. "This year we have 12 teams [10 of which will play in the Baywide competition] across the Bay of Plenty, where in 2014 there were six. There is a great group of passionate people driving the girls' game forward. It promises to be a big year, with the upcoming Black Ferns test matches being held in the Bay in June and the re-introduction of our BOP women's team into the Provincial Championship.

"Today was one piece of the puzzle in taking the women's game forward."