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Home / Northern Advocate / Sport

Northland athletes to leave early imprint

By Andrew Johnsen
Northern Advocate·
5 Aug, 2016 06:00 PM2 mins to read

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Northland will be well represented in the early stages of the Rio Olympic Games.

While Abby Erceg and Hannah Wilkinson have already started their campaign with the Football Ferns, two more will join them in competition over the weekend and one will be carrying our flag.

49er sailor Blair Tuke, along with Peter Burling, will bear the New Zealand flag during the Opening Ceremony (Saturday 11am NZ time).

Tuke and Burling were awarded the honour by chef de mission Rob Waddell and Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae.

They will lead about 60 members of the New Zealand team into Maracana Stadium.

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After that, four Northland athletes will be on show.

Shay Neal will be turning out for the New Zealand hockey side as they take on Australia in a transtasman clash.

The group A clash takes place at 4.30am tomorrow.

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Erceg will then lead the Football Ferns onto the park for their second match.

Erceg, Wilkinson and the rest of the team will want to improve on their 2-0 loss to world number one USA when they play a virtual must-win match against Colombia.

Kick-off is at midday tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Portia Woodman and the NZ women's sevens side kick-start their campaign with two matches tomorrow.

First they take on Kenya at 2.30am and follow that with a match against Spain at 7.30am.

Woodman has been pegged as rugby's first female superstar.

A winger with a tryscoring knack, she would be a natural face for what was once considered the least feminine of sports.

Coach Sean Horan was full of praise for the Northlander.

"I think now Portia has grown into a phenomenal rugby player," he said

"If you look at the way she plays the game, she's fit and fast, an amazing athlete physically.

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"But with her skill-set ... she's really becoming the 'New Age' female rugby player."

Woodman, despite being one of the quickest on the sevens circuit, doesn't mind getting in the thick of it.

"I love being able to dominate my opponents or run around them.

"I love the contact, too, when you're allowed to tackle people, it's awesome," she said.

Woodman is the most prolific scorer in women's sevens: she has scored 119 tries and 595 points in the women's sevens World Series.

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