The jersey auction on Trade Me is called 2022 Poverty Bay Rugby Charity Jersey - Women in Rugby.
“We have some incredible women involved in all levels of our game – from players, coaches and managers of teams to the board table, administration, sponsorship and officiating,” the description of the auction says.
“And we’ve all heard the mothers, wives and partners supporting our game from the sidelines and the rooftops. Wearing this special strip is a small way of showing our love and appreciation for all the women in our game.
“We also wanted to use the opportunity to raise some money for our community, too. We’ve decided, along with our major partner Civil Project Solutions and senior players, to donate the proceeds of these jersey auctions to support the local event Terrier Race Against Time, which raises money for local women fighting breast cancer.
It is the second year Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union has run such an auction.
Last year the union donated nearly $7000 to Hospice Tairāwhiti. Flanker Stefan Destounis’s No.7 jersey reached the highest bid of $1000.
A feature of this year’s jerseys is a graphical representation of Te Kuri a Paoa/Young Nick’s Head.
As of this morning, prop McFarlane’s No.3 jersey was leading the bidding on $205.
The auction closes at 5pm on Friday.
Poverty Bay face West Coast in the last round-robin game of the Heartland Championship this Saturday.
The Bay are sitting 10th on the 12-province table on 11 points.
They have a mathematical chance of making the fifth to eighth playoffs for the Lochore Cup, which they have won four times — most recently in 2011.
But they would need to get the maximum five points from their West Coast clash to have any chance.
