Autumn-Rain Stephens skips out of an attempted tackle by her mum Eliza Stephens. Photo / Stephen Parker
Autumn-Rain Stephens skips out of an attempted tackle by her mum Eliza Stephens. Photo / Stephen Parker
When it comes to women's rugby, the Stephens family have always been synonymous with the black and yellow of Waikite.
However, this year Waikite, who won the Baywide Premier women's competition in 2017, could not get a team together and the remaining players were forced to find new homes.
ElizaStephens chose Waimana but her daughter Autumn-Rain Stephens chose Whakarewarewa. While they faced off briefly in a pre-season tournament, on Sunday they went head-to-head in the Baywide Premier competition for the first time, at Puarenga Park.
Both women lined up at fullback and while they endured mixed emotions, they share a highly competitive nature and there was no way either was going to take a backwards step.
For years, Eliza was a dominant force in the Bay of Plenty - an electric talent. These days she has just as much impact on the field through her experience and knowledge of the game but it is 22-year-old Autumn-Rain showing the apple does not fall far from the tree. Blessed with some serious pace she has stood out at every level she has played at including for the Bay of Plenty Volcanix and playing professional sevens in Japan.
However, it was mum who took bragging rights on Sunday as Eliza played an integral role in Waimana claiming a 26-15 victory.
"It was always going to be quite an exciting match, going up against my daughter," Eliza said.
"Knowing she's the talk of the town these days - I was back in the day but I just had to go out there and prove that I may not have the speed but I still know how my daughter plays."
The pair did not come face to face often in the match but, while she was on the losing side, Autumn-Rain did get one up on her mum as she stepped out of her tackle to launch a counter-attack during the second half.
"She's on dishes all week," Eliza joked.
"We knew we had a good starting point with our forwards going forward and then using [Jamie Tauhari] for our kicks down town."
Waimana had a strong wind at their back in the first half and made the most of it. Their forwards were dominant from the get-go which set the platform for some clinical play in the backline. Ten minutes into the game they had the ball inside the Whakarewarewa 22m, created an overlap on the left wing and Eliza fed her winger Puhi Black nice and early which gave her space to score in the corner.
Minutes later, Black was in again with a near identical play and Waimana led 12-0.
Waimana back Jamie Tautari was in fine form throughout the match, skittling defenders every time she touched the ball. Thirty minutes in she charged into the Whakarewarewa 22m, sucking in defenders before offloading to Black who raced away to secure one of the fastest hat trick we'll see this season. Tautari nailed the conversion and Waimana led 19-0.
Whakarewarewa's Janina Khan makes a typically rampaging run against Waimana. Photo / Stephen Parker
Tautari was then rewarded for her efforts with a try of her own which she converted to make it 26-0.
On the stroke of halftime Whakarewarewa centre Maakarini Nelson scored a much needed try. Trailing 26-5 and with the wind at their backs in the second half, Whakarewarewa sensed a comeback.
Whakarewarewa were the dominant side in the second half and threw everything at the Waimana defensive line. Waimana were rock solid in defence, repelling every wave of attack.
After 15 minutes on attack, Whakarewarewa halfback Tania-Rose Raharuhi finally made the breakthrough as she crashed over the try line from close range, reducing the deficit to 10-26.
The rest of the second half was a real arm wrestle as both sides fought for momentum. Whakarewarewa scored a late consolation but it was not enough to stop Waimana claiming the win.
In the weekend's other games Rangiuru beat Mount Maunganui 109-0 and Rotoiti beat Matata 75-15. Rangataua had the bye.
