The 20-year-old openside flanker was one of several from the team helping out at the under-15 girls’ secondary school rugby tournament yesterday at Hancock Park.
As the side prepares for its first home game of the Farah Palmer Cup season against Tasman, it was not losing sight of a longer-term goal.
The inspiration — a talk from the Cup’s namesake.‘‘We had Farah Palmer come in a few weeks ago, who’s a legend in women’s rugby, New Zealand and the world,’’ Mason said.
‘‘Her saying was: ‘Kick it forward, kick it for the future’. ‘‘So that’s kind of what we’ve taken on board as a team.
‘‘To do heaps of community-based stuff, we’ve been out coaching primary school girls, we’re here today helping these under-15 girls.
‘‘This is the future of our game and without them there isn’t a future, so what we invest now will make the game better in the future.
‘‘When I was growing up there was none of this kind of stuff. ‘‘So it’s good to see the more we can get into it, the more skill we can improve, the more competitive it is, and the results will come in the future.’’
Mason began playing rugby at the age of 4 in Owaka and played for Otago representative teams, before moving south for secondary school.
There she played four years at Southland Girls’ High School, and was the first girl selected to Southland rugby academy.
In year 11 she debuted for the Spirit and after spending six hours travelling for every practice, she moved to Dunedin for year 13.
She attended Otago Girls’ High School, before beginning a physical education degree at the University of Otago. Now in her second year in the degree, she plays for the University premier women’s team and is in her fourth season with the Spirit, missing one through injury.
Her next step would be making the Black Ferns, although she would where see where that went.
A highly touted classical openside flanker who is exceptional at the breakdown, Mason said the Spirit was going well this year.
It had been competitive in last week’s first half against Canterbury, before eventually going down 20-7.
She was hoping the side would notch its first win against a Tasman side in its first year in the Farah Palmer Cup.
‘‘They’re a new team to the comp, so it’s hard to go off what they’ll come.
‘‘We’ve had a 20-minute game against them, they brought a lot of skill, they’re going to be out there to prove a point.
‘‘So if we can just go out there and do our job and play our game, hopefully the result will come.’’
By Jeff Cheshire
Farah Palmer Cup
Logan Park, today, 3pm
Otago: Sheree Hume, Catarina Antunes, Greer Muir, Kilistina Moata’ane, Cheyenne Cunningham, Olivia Waldron, Zoe Whatarau, Angie Sisifa, Georgia Mason, Morgan Henderson, Michaela Day, Jessica Kendall, Syreeta Norris, Tegan Hollows, Eilis Doyle. Reserves: Gemma Millar, Annemieke van Vliet, Kate Smith, Isla Pringle, Leyhana van Vugt, Kaufanga Saane, Nicole Kennedy.
Tasman: Pippa Andrews, Fern Hoskin, Staci Kohe / Leti Fotumoala, Lyric Siaki, Michelle Curry, Dana Wilson, Rosie Buchanan-Brown, Jess Foster, Kelly Stanford, Tamara Silcock, Hannah Gillespie, Courtney Clarke, Stacey Davis, Stephani Mitchell, Kelly Couper. Reserves: Naomi Tiumalu, Shayla Tuitupou, Ashley Ulutupu, Niska Scott, Staci Kohe / Leti Fotumoala, Helen Leota, Raelene Olsen.
