Hauraki North is a rural club that has been in existence since 1909. The goals of the club are to enhance skills.
and talents in a safe and rewarding environment, allowing rugby players of all ages and Gender to play Sport, Hauraki North committee decided that our club would do all in its power to ensure that Womans rugby, was supported to enhance and succeed.
We provided coaching, equipment, physios, medical supplies, balls, pads, uniforms, travel, food etc., allowing the Diamons to compete and thrive,
The Thames Valley Rugby Union are currently fine tuning a Strategic Plan for the next 3 years and Women and Girls Rugby is a major priority within this plan. This will enhance our 140% growth of females from the 2022 year and we strive to have our own stand alone female competitions.
We are also looking at growing our resources by employing a Women and Girls Lead for the Thames Valley area. This will be completed over the next month. To further support this part of our great game, Women and Girls will be supported in other areas also such as Coaching, game development, refereeing and facilities available.
Hauraki North are a very proactive club not only in rugby in general but are leading the way with accommodating our Women and Girls that want to play rugby. What they did last year, and this is greatly appreciated, and the Thames Valley Rugby look forward to working closely with them during 2023 and 2024.
Rob Corkhill from Sport Waikato said:
‘What Hauraki North Diamond’s achieved this season is nothing short of outstanding and has caused a ripple
effect for women’s rugby across Thames Valley. Hauraki North is really leading from the front in looking to
provide inclusive facilities for all club members.
The positive impact that the ladies’ team has had upon our community has been tremendous. The support that this has
generated across the Thames Valley is incredible. The car park at Hauraki North is full for every woman’s game, mostly
other women and young ladies from our district coming to support their team.
It is also great to see is the support/interest this has generated in our younger fans. We now have a plethora of young
girls running around with ‘Future Blue Diamond Player’ t-shirts on. We now have more younger ladies and teenagers
looking to get involved in the ladies’ team and registering to train/play for next season. We may very soon have a ladys,
and B’s team!
Head coach Brendan Clark told The Profile it was “massive” for a fresh team like the Diamonds to make the final round.
We got into the competition [on April 15] and we lost our first game to Taupiri but then managed to pick up our first win the next week against Matamata.
“It was a very close competition throughout the year which made it really exciting and challenging, and the girls got a crack at the final which they really deserved.”
Brendan thanked the rugby club for its “outstanding” support for its wāhine.
“It was outstanding for the club to be right behind it from the get go… they renovated one of their changing rooms to be just for the ladies which they really appreciated,” he said.
“Every Wednesday they would put on a feed for the ladies after training and one of the coolest days was we had ladies day, where they sold out of tickets and the club put on a really special day.
“We probably played our best game there at home and we won 29-0 against Waitete, which was the biggest winning margin of any team in the competition this year and the only team who kept another team at zero.”
Brendan said the Diamonds could be forever and the team’s overall performance was a “positive sign” for women’s rugby in Thames Valley.
An opportunity to capitalise on the “strong” women’s rugby movement led Hauraki North Rugby let’s have a look at this.
Andrew said the idea to establish the Diamonds team also stemmed from the success of the Thames Valley Vixens and a Whangamatā sevens tournament held in November last year. “Ex-player Brendan Clark saw Thames Valley were looking for a coach to coach their Vixens team for the year. Brendan put his hand up for that and they were the best winning team in terms of their win-loss average,” he said.
“Then there was an opportunity for us to put a [Hauraki North] team [into the sevens tournament] using Brendan as the coach. From there, we had discussions that someone needs to put their hand up… and the chance for the girls to put a team in the Waikato Women’s Premier Competition is here for us now so we’re sort of taking it with both hands to welcome these girls into our rugby club.”
Brendan Clark, who’s the head coach of the Diamonds, said the current players had competed for the Vixens and were “stoked to become part of Hauraki North Diamonds.
