“I’m really excited to work with these kids . . . to go out and pass on our knowledge, giving kids exposure to an environment like this.”
They’ve spent Wednesday and Thursday running the school-holiday camp for the next generation of rugby players.
The camp was organised by Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union and had practical and theory sessions on a raft of topics.
Player development manager Kahu Tamatea said people from around the community stepped up to offer support or insight into their areas of expertise for the young players.
“Thank you to Alana Karehana who gave nutrition advice, the YMCA’s Renee Lolohea, who did strength and conditioning, Gisborne Boys’ High for providing the facilities, and Anchor Milk Country Foods Limited, who sponsored the event and provided refreshments,” Tamatea said.
It was also a big commitment for the Black Ferns players, who who been away from their Farrah Palmer Cup teams this week to do the camp, he said.
Ngata-Aerengamate, called TK by her peers, said her coaches were “rejoicing”, telling her to “go and rejuvenate” before her game against Taranaki this weekend.
“When you say you’re giving back, they don’t mind.”
She started playing rugby at five years of age “with the boys”, playing against them until she was in her teens.
“It was cool; until they all got muscles and I started getting smashed,” she said.
Originally from Te Araroa, she now leads the haka for the national women’s rugby team and is a World Cup champion.
Ngata-Aerengamate’s teammates call her “the heart of the Black Ferns”, because she brings the culture to the team and welcomes new players with open arms.
Both the players had experience with the “stigma that men’s rugby is better than women’s rugby”, McMenamin said.
They live in an era when women’s sport has been fighting for equality, but both players believe there is still a long way to go.
Both said they had experienced or heard stories of inequities in women’s rugby that continued through to the present day.
Their coaches are former Black Ferns who earned next to nothing on tour, and played in All Blacks’ hand-me-downs.
“We’re forever grateful; they were the pioneers,” McMenamin said.
“It’s come a long way . . . (but) it feels like we’re pushing and going nowhere.”
When the Black Ferns travel around the world, they’re treated like stars, but in New Zealand, they typically play as a curtain-raiser in front of empty stands. When they played in France, they were the headline act and attracted over 17,000 fans.
Both players said they understood the difficulties of promoting women’s rugby nationally to create a format that would generate more investment to support their game.
