Linwood run another successful Mahuika tournament

Linwood RFC hosted another successful Mahuika Girls’ 7’s tournament last month, as the club continues to work hard on providing opportunities to their community.

With the girls’ sevens tournament played out of season to provide the opportunity to all players to give the sport a go, the tournament has grown from 8 to 12 teams this year, including the introduction of a Linwood side for the first time.

“We identified a need within our community and local high school for a have-a-go environment for girls’,” said Linwood RDO Sam Jack, “This tournament allows us to cater to those girls that are already playing rugby, but also to those that play other sports, to give rugby a go.”

“We had growth in the tournament through the increase of team, the tournament was livestreamed to allow more people to watch, and it’s all about promoting women and girls’ in sport, in particular rugby.”

Mahuika also had a number of success stories this year, with the Linwood side winning in their first tournament together, and the South Westland side, travelling on the day from the West Coast, taking out the plate.

“It was great to welcome the South Westland side over to Mahuika.” said Jack, “they’re an under 13 side but they don’t get the opportunity to play against other all girls’ teams, so provide them with the opportunity and to have them experience some success at the tournament was pretty special too, it emphasises what makes a tournament like Mahuika so important.”