Rugby World Cup: Khaleece, mum and a teddy on the dream trip to London

Napier schoolgirl rugby player Khaleece Kiripatea and mum Kelly-Jo on the plane heading to the finals at the Women's Rugby World Cup in Britain.

The Black Ferns’ semifinal defeat at the Women’s Rugby World Cup has done nothing to break the loyalty of Maraenui schoolgirl rugby player Khaleece Kiripatea, who flew out on Wednesday with mum Kelly-Jo Kiripatea for the finals in London.

She’d never been on an aircraft before, her mum had never been overseas, and it’s barely a month since the whānau learned Kahleece had been selected by cup sponsor Land Rover as one of 64 defender mascots from cup nations around the world.

To boot, the 11-year-old was selected to run on to the field with the teams in the final in front of a sellout crowd of 82,000 at Twickenham.

Like most of New Zealand, Kahleece was confident one of the teams would be the New Zealand Black Ferns.

According to her mum, she was “gutted” when the defending champions were beaten 34-19 by Canada in a semifinal last weekend.

Then came a Zoom call from the organisers, Kelly-Jo said: “They offered Khaleece a choice. She could stick to the final and go on with Canada, or she could change to the bronze game and go on with the Black Ferns. Straight away, she opted for the Black Ferns. I was very proud of her.”

The sponsors provided travel, accommodation and match tickets for Khaleece and her mum, and the Defender Bear teddy.

They all flew out of Napier late on Wednesday morning, heading for a 10-hour Auckland to Singapore leg and almost 14 hours more to Heathrow. They expected to arrive at 7.15am on Thursday, UK time.

In New Zealand time, the playoff – the curtain-raiser – starts at 11.30pm on Saturday, and the cup final starts just over four hours later.

Khaleece’s selection inspired a wave of support within the Maraenui community, including a celebratory function at the clubrooms.

Her mum said on Wednesday morning: “To say we are excited is a huge understatement. Thank you everyone who has helped us to get here, sent us koha, supported baby’s dinner and all the well-wishers.”

Doug Laing is a senior Hawke’s Bay Today reporter who has been based in Napier for 38 years, covering most aspects of news, and sports.