Red advanced to the final by beating Iles Loyaute (New Caledonia), Tribes (Australia) and Provence SUD in their pool play, and a Tahitian team and Fiji’s Savu Savu in crossover games.
“Apart from the games against the Aussies, a 22-21 win, we won the other games convincingly,” said Hina. “The Aussie game was a try-for-try affair and we had a good idea we would meet them in the final.”
More than 1000 spectatorsTarsau said the final of seven-minute halves was played in a stadium in front of 1000-plus spectators.
“The girls were nervous and started slowly, Tarsau said. “At the end of the first half, we were down 24-5. We just told the girls to relax and to play the way we knew they could.”
Captain Renee Holmes led a sensational fightback, which saw Poverty Bay take a 26-24 lead with 30 seconds to play only for Australia to score a late try from a chip kick.
“We really felt for the girls,” said Tarsau. “It was a game they deserved to win. There were a few tears. We knew how hard they had worked and how much time, effort and energy went into their preparation.
“We told them they should be proud of themselves, especially the way they fought back against a very good team.”
Hina and Tarsau did not want to single out individuals but, when pushed, said Holmes and Halafihi were outstanding. The Australian coach paid tribute to the Poverty Bay girls on Facebook: “Poverty Bay brought two u18 girls teams to the tournament. I’m not sure who is behind their programme, but whoever it is, they are certainly a credit to the women’s game. Rugby clubs all over the world need to follow the example they are setting.”
Best performance for lastThe PB White team, led by Maddison Reid, had a couple of losses on the way to their final but saved their best performance for last.
The White team were made up mostly of girls aged 14 and were there for experience for the next sevens tournament on the Gold Coast in September, Hina said.
“They will have learned a lot. Like the Red team, they did the district proud.”
Tarsau said Manaia Hutana, Georgia Teneti, Lucy Coulston and Jody Walters had good tournaments.
“All the girls in both teams contributed to a great weekend. Manaia was top tryscorer over both our teams. Lucy also scored a lot of tries. Georgia was involved in a lot of the moves and Jody was good on attack and defence.”
Hina said they had given the girls two weeks off before they start preparing for the Gold Coast tournament.
“They’ve been training hard since February and we want to give them time to catch up on life. We want them to come back hungry for the game but knowing the girls they’ll be sneaking in some form of training. They just can’t get enough of it.”
Tarsau said they would be taking three teams — u14, u16 and u18 — to the Gold Coast.
“The experience gained at New Caledonia will be good for the girls,” she said. “It’s not just about playing different teams. It’s about travelling overseas, being out of their comfort zone, seeing different cultures and learning how to get on with teammates.
“We couldn’t have been prouder of the way they conducted themselves. Just to give you an example. We had a five-hour wait between the semifinal and final, and the girls could have been tempted to sightsee or sunbathe or do other things, but they all were focused on their recovery for the final.”
