Southland women’s sevens coach Mere Baker is disappointed they won’t get a shot at lining up in the national provincial tournament this month but could not fault the players’ effort.
Southland took part in the South Island regional qualifiers in Timaru on Saturday where Tasman, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland all battled it out for three spots at the national tournament which this year will be played in Timaru.
Southland lost its first up game 42-14 against Canterbury, before a 20-5 loss to Otago, and finishing pool play with a 15-12 loss to Tasman.
It set up a playoff for third against Tasman again Southland was pipped 15-10 in a tight contest.
Baker said it was frustrating they would not get to test themselves at the national tournament but said individually there were some strong performances over the three games.
They included Amy du Plessis, Laura Buckingham, and Krishanee Tamou, who particularly impressed Baker.
"Krishanee Tamou could have been a Black Fern if there was more [women’s] rugby in Southland over the years," she said.
This year was Baker’s first year coaching the Southland women’s sevens team after taking over from Andrew Rowland.
Baker is from Riverton but played her rugby for Canterbury before stepping into the coaching ranks.
She coaches professionally in the United States as part of an Olympic development programme and also coached in Australia, Europe, and at a club in Japan.
Baker will return to the United States in February but was keen to offer Rugby Southland with her thoughts around putting together a successful women’s programme, including the introduction of a team in the Farah Palmer Cup.
She said there had been some good work done, in terms of growing the women’s game at a community level in Southland, and the next step would be to beef up the high-performance component of women’s rugby.
Baker would be keen to help in Southland’s push to put together a Farah Palmer Cup team.
"It might take a couple of years, or even three years [to get a Farah Palmer Cup team]," she said.
While the Southland’s women’s sevens team was unable to book a spot at the nationals the Southland men did with a fifth-place finish in Timaru on Saturday. The Dan Cavanagh-coached Southland team had a first up 15-10 loss to home team South Canterbury. It was then beaten by Canterbury 21-12 before a slick Tasman outfit raced past Southland with a 35-0 win.
The response was a 15-5 victory over Otago, setting up an important game against Mid Canterbury which Southland won 31-14 in a big day of sevens.
Brad Kooman was a standout in the two wins despite playing through a quad injury, while stand-in captain Leigh Bristowe and Alantini Vaihu also impressed.
The focus has quickly switched to the nationals which will be played on December 15 and 16 with the Southland team beefing up their training schedule over the next fortnight.
Costa brothers Nico, Rodrigo, and Ignacio will all come into the selection frame with Ormond also expected to return for the trip to Tauranga.
- Logan Savory