Rugby's Farah Palmer Cup opens with veterans and rising stars in spotlight
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
St Hilda's keep legacy going
The St Hilda's rugby team prepare for the South Island secondary schoolgirls final against Christchurch Girls' tomorrow. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN You never know where life can take you. In the early 1990s, St Hilda's Collegiate teacher John Bradfield was looking for an assistant coach to help him out with the school's First XV when he rang the physical education department at the University of Otago to see if anyone was interested. A young woman by the name of Farah Palmer answered the call, and made the trip up to St Hilda's to lend a hand to a bunch of fresh-faced teenagers wanting to get stuck in. Palmer, who was playing for Otago at the time, went on to be one of the most recognisable faces in women's rugby, captaining the Black Ferns before being appointed to the New Zealand Rugby board. Black Ferns great Farah Palmer (front row, third from the left) with the 1996 St Hilda's First XV she helped coach while playing for Otago. PHOTOS: ST HILDA'S The national provincial women's competition is aptly named the Farah Palmer Cup after the trailblazer. It was a "happy accident" for the school — but one that remains invaluable for them today. Palmer stayed on with the team for a couple of years after Bradfield — who is now back at St Hilda's as teacher in charge of rugby — moved on, and she paved the way for future generations of rugby at the school. That opened the door for St Hilda's to produce some of the Otago Spirit's finest, including current back Sheree Hume and hooker Hannah Lithgow. Rugby has grown massively at the school across the past three decades. More players were arriving from rural areas, having already played in boys' teams, and the interest had grown with 55 girls involved in the sport — including 20 year 9s — this season. Several players Palmer helped coach now have daughters at the Dunedin school, which is gearing up for its biggest battle yet. The St Hilda's team had a hard-fought 33-27 win over Central Southland College in Invercargill last week to win the Highlanders secondary schoolgirls' final. They now head to Christchurch tomorrow to play powerhouses Christchurch Girls' in the South Island final; the winner will qualify for the top four. It is a big occasion for the team, who are coached by James O'Brien and Lucy Holmes-Crombie. Bradfield is proud of the St Hilda's girls, who have a hard-working forward pack and exciting backs, and of how far rugby has come at the school. Maybe the next Farah Palmer will be out on the pitch tomorrow.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Farah Palmer Cup struggles with broadcast quality amid Rugby World Cup buzz
The result meant we often saw our most lopsided games being broadcast, giving a poor view of the state of our competition. The rest you had to follow on an auntie's Facebook page. The live function had just emerged on social media, enabling passionate, albeit blurry, coverage from the sideline. This was the fan experience of the Farah Palmer Cup pre-2021. After this, Sky proudly announced its commitment to air and streaming all Farah Palmer Cup matches. And they have – until this season. Now the dreaded asterisk has re-emerged. Once again, the men's schedule dictates which women's match will be shown on Sky and which will now be streamed by NZ Rugby itself. This is how we ended up having the winner of last year's premiership, Waikato, facing the most successful province in women's rugby history, Auckland, on an internet livestream on the opening weekend. I reserved my judgment on the NZR livestream before seeing it myself, knowing that removing a paywall from our sport during the cost-of-living crisis could be an opportunity for growth. I ended up wishing instead for the return of auntie's Facebook. At least she would have taken the time to pronounce the players' names right. Rebecca Burch on the charge for Counties Manukau Heat. Photo / Photosport Naming rights How dreadfully boring to be asking once again for the names of players to be respected. As political debate this week raged about the inclusion of te reo Māori in children's reading resources, I couldn't help but wish more of our commentators had had access to these phonetics. With the streamed coverage reduced to one mounted camera, the audio accompaniment becomes all the more important to fill in the picture for viewers. This is NZR's official channel. If it is putting its name to the channel, at a minimum it should be ensuring its players are having theirs said correctly. This livestream, rather than a downgrade, should be a chance to do things differently. What it lacks in resources, it can make up in creativity. Follow the lead of the National Women's Rugby League, which puts current players on the call, adding to the energy. Better yet, run the opportunity to call games as a fan competition, creating a buzz in the lead-in by getting enthusiasts to submit their audition tapes. Then have a fan vote on those who make it through to help cover the final. The location of a broadcast matters less these days. It's the difference for the fan being a case of clicking on one app or the other. Even better if one of them is free. What matters is the care taken in the coverage. Putting our best matches in front of our biggest audience. Saying the names correctly and bringing real energy to the event. Making an average stream appointment viewing by showing that you love the game as much as those tuning in. Alice Soper is a sports columnist for the Herald on Sunday. A former provincial rugby player and current club coach, she has a particular interest in telling stories of the emerging world of women's sports.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Spirit score late to take thriller
Out of breath just watching that. The Otago Spirit clinched a 34-33 win over North Harbour in their Farah Palmer Cup opener at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday. Harbour led for a good portion of the game and looked to have sealed a thrilling win when impressive first five Ella Henderson sliced through a couple of forwards on a short angled run to the line with 10 minutes remaining. But there were a few twists left. Otago replacement forward Sarah Jones pounced a few minutes later. She was dragged down short but got back to her feet and barged over. Classy halfback Abigail Paton drilled the conversion to give her side a one-point lead. But Harbour rallied. They launched wave after wave. Spirit captain Greer Muir helped nail the win. She got herself over the ball and grabbed plenty of turnovers, including a crucial one in the final few moments. But Paton grabbed the most important. Harbour were just metres from the line when she ripped it free and won a penalty. In a moment of madness, she took a quick tap and spun it wide. The ball was lost and Otago was right back on defence. They scrambled out of trouble and Muir managed to laugh it off during the post-match interview with the Sky commentary team. "When our halfback quick-tapped it and passed, I was . . . " Muir said, finishing her thought with a confused gesture. "But it was OK. I trust my team. "I'm so glad we came out on top." The visitors were pinned in their half for the opening five minutes, but lock Margaret Uluiqalau-Wye stormed through a hole and ran 30m to get Harbour into a prime attacking position. Harbour held on to possession and prop Rialani Onesemo-Tuilaepa crashed over to open the scoring. They swung back on to attack and launched wave after wave. Eventually, second five Holly Williams was able to dive over from close range. The defensive intensity was missing from the Spirit and they trailed 14-0. But Harbour missed a one-on-one tackle on Naomi Sopoaga close to the line and the Otago centre struck back. Otago winger Jamie Church burst into a hole and beat a couple of defenders. But the opportunity was lost when the ball was knocked on from a later phase. Both sides were making plenty of mistakes, but they were playing ambitious rugby, which was exciting to watch. Otago pounced on one of those errors. They took a tap kick from a 5m penalty, faked one way, went the other and fullback Olivia Fowler muscled over in the tackle. Harbour pushed their lead out to 19-12 when Ellie Harrison threw a dummy, stepped back in and scored from a few metres out. Otago responded by going 90m. Sheree Hume nabbed a turnover and the Spirit gave the ball width. Fowler finished off when she scooped up a loose pass and pushed off the cover defender. Muir made a strong run in the movement and the No 8 got her side back into the right area with another impressive carry moments later. Fowler almost jigged her way to the line, but Harbour wriggled out of trouble and went into the break with a 19-17 lead. Otago should have scored in the second spell. Sopoaga sprinted into a gap and got the offload to Hume, who had a fair chance to get to the corner but dropped the pass. Harbour struck instead. Left winger Ursola Eteru-Fuailefau cut in between Hume and Fowler from a 5m scrum and scored. There was more action to unpack when Paton dived over from the base of the ruck. The Otago halfback was providing a spark for the Spirit, and her connection with makeshift first five Georgia Cormick was flourishing. Church finished off in the corner and Otago took the lead midway through the half. But there were still 20 minutes of drama left in this one. In the other Championship games at the weekend, Wellington beat Tasman 39-7 and Northland defeated Taranaki 48-17. In the Premiership, Auckland edged Waikato 31-28, Counties-Manukau crushed Bay of Plenty 88-0, and Canterbury cruised to a 44-5 win over Manawatū. Farah Palmer Cup The scores Otago 34 Olivia Fowler 2, Naomi Sopoaga, Abigail Paton, Jamie Church, Sarah Jones tries; Paton 2 con. North Harbour 33 Rialani Onesemo-Tuilaepa, Holly Williams, Ellie Harrison, Ursola Eteru-Fuailefau, Ella Henderson tries; Henderson 4 con Halftime: Spirit 19-17.
