Rugby career send-off for Tui veteran Emma Jensen - in Balclutha

Can the Tui give Emma Jensen a dream final send-off? Photo / Ian Cooper

The playing career of women's rugby trailblazer and Hawke's Bay Tui great Emma Jensen will come to an end with a big occasion on Sunday, in a town with a population of barely 4000.

Turning 45 in November and with over 160 first-class matches behind her, including 50 for national side the Black Ferns, Jensen has confirmed her swansong for the Tui will be Saturday's Farah Palmer Cup final against the Otago Spirit at the Clutha Showgrounds - in Balclutha.

Just when there had been hopes the match would be under the roof at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium - a happy hunting ground for Hawke's Bay men's NPC side the Magpies - the Otago Rugby Union (ORU) was dealing with having to play the game elsewhere, because the stadium was pre-booked for another event at the weekend.

ORU chief executive Richard Kinley said to play the game in the stadium on Friday night would have been hard on the travelling team, and the Balclutha ground - almost 80km to the south - became the best option.

With other things on her mind... Emma Jensen at McLean Park, Napier, after the end of a match for the Hawke's Bay Tui last year. Photo / NZME

"It's almost the hub of women's rugby here at the moment," he said.

There are five teams in the top Otago women's competition, and four in a development grade, making it one of the bigger women's rugby senior grade structures in New Zealand.

The Highlanders and the Otago men have played occasional pre-season matches at the Clutha Showgrounds.

The key factor became whether it could be televised live from the venue, as required, and Kinley says broadcaster Sky was "happy" with the arrangement and the 12.35pm game will go "live", with promotion to the Premiership division the ultimate goal for the two sides.

Jensen hadn't seen herself playing too many more games when she returned to Hawke's Bay as deputy principal of Hastings Girls' High School, after two decades away playing rugby in Auckland, Waikato, and at assorted rugby World Cups.

She was soon snapped up as a new elected director of the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union board but also found herself unable to resist the return to the fray on the paddock, and has been a regular at halfback as the Tui have established themselves as a force in their grade, now in the final for a third time.

Jensen was unable to be contacted by late Wednesday afternoon, but Tui coach Blair Cross said the fact it was her last match would be a motivating factor in a game everyone had hoped would be at the big stadium.

Jensen has been an integral part of what has been some remarkable week-by-week improvement in a team which the Otago Spirit beat 44-22 in Hastings in the first round on July 23.

The choice of venue, a well-regarded sand-based strip in South Otago, "is what it is", Cross said, and there'll be "a bit of emotion" as the team farewells their senior stateswoman, but they will have to get on and "play some rugby".

He said the change of venue could be to his side's advantage, as unbeaten Otago have played all their games at bigger venues, including all three home matches under the roof.

Cross said Otago will find Hawke's Bay a far different prospect than they faced seven weeks ago, and his own side are capable of putting Otago under types of pressure they haven't seen in their five games to date.

"If we can, who knows what can happen?" he said.