Oh boy, here comes competition

Georgia Mason has the sort of rugby and other sporting skills most from the opposite sex would die for. Photo / Otago Daily Times

This girl stands out from the crowd.

And not because she is a female in a predominantly male sport.

As the only girl in a rugby tournament which had more than 400 players, Georgia Mason made her impact on the field - winning the "man" of the match award in one game, and then being picked for the tournament team.

The 13-year-old, who hails from the Chaslands, about as far south in Otago as you can get, has the sort of rugby and other sporting skills most from the opposite sex would die for.

With 35 tries this season in club play, she was one of just three players from Otago who won selection in the South Island under-48kg team after a tournament in Christchurch this week.

The last Otago girl to make this side was Black Fern Kelly Brazier in 2002.

Otago coach Graeme Reid said Georgia had all the skills and kept all the boys on their toes.

Georgia said her selection for the tournament team was a surprise but she did not find it hard playing against boys. After all, she has been doing it for more than half her life.

A No 8 who had previously played lock, she has been playing the game since she was 5.

And she sure knows the road between her home in the Chaslands, south of Tautuku, and Dunedin. With representative rugby and hockey training and matches at the weekend she travels more than 1200km in a week.

But the Catlins Area School pupil is far from complaining and said she was used to the travel. Sometimes, she stayed in Dunedin.

Next week she will be in Timaru to play for Otago in the Collier Trophy hockey tournament.

Once winter sports are out of the way, touch and softball will feature over the summer and she has made Otago squads in both.

But rugby is her favourite sport.

Her Otago teammates did not find it unusual to have a girl in the team, and once they saw her play it was "give the ball to Georgia".

Mum Michelle - the "taxi driver" - said Georgia was a determined girl who never gave up.

Next year, she will head south to Invercargill to board at Southland Girls High School.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES