Rugby: A lesson for the Tuis

Hawke's Bay halfback Raedeen Blake gets the ball away in tricky circumstances on a tough day in which her side was beaten 84-14 by Canterbury. Photo / Paul Taylor

An 84-14 defeat at rugby is a whipping in anyone’s language.

But for the Hawke’s Bay Tui it’s a lesson of lessons to be learned as Saturday’s Farah Palmer Cup loss to defending champions Canterbury fades amid the determination for the Tuis to still reach national women’s rugby semi-finals in their first season back in the Premiership,’'

Veteran Gemma Woods, who clocked-up her 70 match in the Tuis jersey in a match in which the opposition scored 13 tries wasn’t dwelling.

“New week, new goal,” she says. “Canterbury was a classy team. Chatting with them after the game that’s what some of them do as a job - rugby players. We take the lesson and move on.”

The Tuis, with several players in their first 2-3 seasons of rugby, were without two of the more crucial members of the forward pack in prop Ashley Palu and No 8 Kathleen Brown.

The game at the Regional Sports Park in Hastings was probably the last home game of the season for the Tuis, who next Sunday in Whakatane next meet Bay of Plenty side the Volcanix, who shrugged shoulders at the doubters at the weekend with a 37-7 win over Wellington in Tauranga.

They must win at least either that or the last round-robin game in Pukekohe on August 26 against Counties Manukau, who on Friday night fielded Black Ferns star Ruby Tui but were beaten 37-10 by Auckland Storm.

With the promising outcome of wins over Auckland and Wellington and a narrow loss to Waikato in the previous three games, it was still always going to be a tough day for the Tui at the Regional Sports Park in Hastings.

The game was out of Hawke’s Bay’s reach by halftime with the score 32-0 to Canterbury, who eventually scored 13 tries.

But the Tui did provide some of the class, firstly with left wing Nicolette Adamson intercepting 10 metres inside Hawke’s Bay territory and sprinting more than 60 metres to score beneath the crossbar, and then a break by second five-eighths Leilani Hakiwai leading to a try to Michaela Baker.

Meanwhile, the number of Hawke’s Bay’s contenders for the national secondary schools first fifteens’ top prize in 2023 is down to one after the elimination of Hastings Boys High School on Saturday.

Hastings were beaten 27-25 by Palmerston BHS at Massey University, Napier BHS now set to host Palmerston North in Napier next Saturday in a match which will be for the right to play Wellington’s champion first fifteen for a place in the National Top 4 play offs.

Representative rugby came to Porangahau for the first time in many years on Saturday, with the Central Hawke’s Bay sub-union side beating Te Matau a Maui Hawke’s Bay Maori 28-26, scoring two tries in the last eight minutes, with fullback Hunter Yarrall making it four from four with the conversions by landing the last from near the sideline in the last minute on a muddy afternoon at White Domain.

In Wairoa on Sunday, Wairoa started its Barry Cup centennial year with a 125-0 win defending the trophy against Poverty Bay side Ngatapa. It was 62-0 at halftime.

Holders of the trophy when it was first presented in 1923, Wairoa won it last year for the first time in 14 years, and will defend it again next weekend against East Coast side Matakaoa.