Te Awhe Hurley has not missed a Geraldine Wāhine Rugby game since the team formed.

Her 50th competition match was the Rhodes Cup Premier Women final on July 25 against Pleasant Point.

The 23-year-old grew up in Hamilton, playing representative touch for Waikato and Condor Sevens for Hamilton Girls’ High School.

She moved south at the start of 2021, the year she first picked up a rugby ball.

"I never really played rugby growing up,” she says.

“My sisters were playing, and my dad was coaching the under-18 girls, so I decided I wanted to have a go.”

She played a season with the Geraldine under-18 side before her father, Jason Hurley, and Courtney Bates restarted a women’s team.

Her teammates have made her captain for four years running.

“I feel like I’m very committed,” she says.

“I really appreciate the girls, and I don’t want to let the team down, so I’ve played with broken ribs, broken fingers. I’ve played with glandular fever.”

Losing finals has been harder than any injury.

“You always have to be there for the girls and uplift them. "Being under the post, getting scored on multiple times is really hard, but you always have to be that positive energy, even though I’m hurt as well.”

While Geraldine Wāhine takes a break until next year, Te Awhe and 11 other Geraldine players are playing in the South Canterbury Fillies squad; Te Awhe is captain of that side, too.

“This rep space is really intense, and I have to fight for my spot on the team,” she says.

“I’ll just put my head down and get in the gym and run.”