Rugby: Whanganui hosts women's module game

Wanganui Rugby is looking to grow the women's game in the province with initiatives like the module game held at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.
Photos / Supplied

The curtain raiser game to the Game of Three Halves was a special Women's Module match involving players from Whanganui and Manawatu on Saturday.

In an attempt to build the local women's game, the Wanganui Rugby Football Union has plans to raise a team similar to the men's St Johns Club Whanganui Metro, who compete in the Manawatu Colts division.

Development officer Eneliko Fa'atau has been recruiting players, while the keystone is the return home of Sosoli Talawadua, the prop with eight caps for the Black Ferns.

The daughter of boxing trainer Eddie Tofa and sister of Steelform Wanganui prop Viki Tofa, Talawadua captained Waikato and was part of the successful New Zealand team at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland.

So far, around eight girls are training on Tuesday's and Thursday's, alternating between Whanganui and travelling to Palmerston North.

The game on Saturday at Cooks Gardens involved the Whanganui players appearing in both teams alongside their Manawatu counterparts.

 

 

By Jared Smith
Whanganui Chronicle 17/6/19