Teens thrilled to meet medal-winning sevens players

The Olympic silver medal-winning women's sevens team is inspiring young players as they visit seven cities to promote the sport.

RNZ reports Winger Portia Woodman and captain Sarah Goss said the response from fans at an all-girls under-15 sevens tournament in Wellington yesterday was fantastic.

"It's our team's mission to inspire the younger girls. Rugby is an awesome sport and it's a career path now," Woodman said.

Goss said such tournaments were a great way of developing young players.

"If we can inspire girls to pick up rugby and get them playing the game in four years' time hopefully they'll be playing alongside us in Tokyo."

Woodman said competing at the Olympics in Rio was "indescribable".

Recent figures have shown that more and more women are playing rugby with an expected boost following the Olympic Games.

There were 17,825 female players in 2014. By 2015 that had jumped 11 percent to 19,792.

The 2016 figures are not out yet but NZ Rugby said it expected another rise.

For Woodman, one of her Rio highlights was performing a haka for whānau and supporters, she said, while Goss rated meeting stars like tennis great Serena Williams and actor Matthew McConaughey.

Although the team had their sights on the gold both Goss and Woodman agreed winning silver was a huge achievement.

"We're pretty honoured to be bringing back our silver medals and it's just nice that we've got this opportunity to show the young girls that it's possible," Goss said.

Wellington East Girls' College student Georgina Tuitaalili was thrilled to see her idols, and their medals.

"I was real amazed, I was holding the medal up like I got it. I was real proud."

The 13-year-old plans to continue playing rugby with the hopes of one day winning an Olympic medal of her own.

Central women's rugby development manager Anna Darling said about 120 girls were competing in the two-day under 15-year-old tournament in Wellington.

Participation in the sport has spiked following success in Rio, she said.

 

Wellington East Girls' College students with Portia Woodman and Sarah Goss. Photo: RNZ / Aaron Smale

Sacred Heart College coach Liz Nanai-Iafeta also said there were a number of new girls in her team.

She said having role models and good grassroots support were both contributing to its rising popularity.

Father and coach James Porter was watching his daughter play from the sidelines and said it was awesome for girls to have the sevens women to look up to.

"They all know who Portia Woodman is, they all know who Ruby Tui is, and it’s awesome. It's not just the Silver Ferns anymore it's our Black Ferns girls as well."

Players from the sevens team will be in Auckland and Hamilton today and Dunedin and Ruatoki later this week.