2023 NRLWahine: Round Six Preview
Roosters, Knights and Raiders had wins last round in NRLW which takes them all to 4-1 records at the top of the ladder. At the other end of the NRLW ladder sit Eels who are yet to register a win this season and they have made a mid-season addition by signing Taupo's Noaria Kapua who is selected on their bench for this weekend's clash against Cowboys.
Kapua went to Tauhara College in Taupo and played a variety of sports before moving over to Sydney to play for Bulldogs in the New South Wales Tarsha Gale Cup Under 18s competition. Kapua scored a try in the TGC final which Bulldogs lost to the Roosters Indigenous Academy, now joining Alexis Tauaneai and Cortez Te Pou in leaving Aotearoa to join Bulldogs and then grab NRLW opportunities.
Tauaneai and Te Pou were both contracted prior to the NRLW season, while Kapua's signing was only announced this week. Their NSW Women's Premiership team also had the likes of Gayle Broughton (Broncos) and Shannon Muru (Eels), but Bulldogs have made major moves in recruiting young wahine into their development system. That development mahi doesn't help Bulldogs in NRLW because they don't have a team yet and it will be interesting to see whether the Bulldogs investment in NRLWahine actually helps them in the long term.
Kapua is mainly an edge forward and she may get middle minutes off the bench for Eels. Muru is also named on the bench for Eels, along with Capri Paekau who continues to build into her first NRLW season as a hooker getting 20-35 minutes off the bench. Eels are the worst team in NRLW and they are the only team to score below 60 points, while also being the only team to concede more than 130 points (162).
The addition of Kapua and a bench full of NRLWahine will hopefully help Eels grab a win over Cowboys this round, especially as Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly (BOP) is not named for Cowboys. With Kapua and Paekau playing together for Eels, here is a breakdown of NRLWahine named this round who have hearty Aotearoa roots and are not from Auckland...
Eels: Capri Paekau (Te Awamutu), Noaria Kapua (Taupo)
Dragons: Alexis Taunaneai (Wellington)
Roosters: Mya Hill-Moana (Waikato)
Broncos: Gayle Broughton (Taranaki)
Raiders: Madison Bartlett (Taranaki), Cheyelle Robins-Reti (Taranaki)
Sharks: Harata Butler (Waikato)
Dragons host Titans in an intriguing match up of NRLWahine. Dragons had an epic comeback win over Leianne Tufuga's Tigers last round with Tyla Nathan-Wong, Raecene McGregor and Alexis Tauaneai named in their team again this week. Titans were rolled by Roosters last round and they will again line up with Niall Williams-Guthrie, Georgia Hale and Hailee-Jay Maunsell.
Tauaneai and Hale still lead the NRLWahine for straight up mahi. Hale made 37 tackles with one missed tackle against Roosters, taking her to 247 tackles @ 99.2% and the next best tackler is Simaima Taufa on 202 tackles @ 95.75%. Tauaneai has played full games in back to back outings and is still the most dominant youngster in NRLW.
Tufuga is named again at centre for Tigers who come up against Roosters with Mya Hill-Moana named to start at prop along with Otesa Pule promoted to starting edge forward. Teuila Fotu-Moala drops back to the bench. 21-year-old Hill-Moana has missed a few games this season but she is averaging 100+ metres for the second season in a row and has missed just one tackle this season.
Roosters won all three games with Fotu-Moala at starting prop and she played 20-28 minutes in these three games, also missing just one tackle in her four games this season. Pule is also finding form for Roosters, with two linebreaks and six tackle breaks in the win over Roosters. Pule also has two tries and a try assists this season, playing 40 minutes in the last two games.
Tafito Lafaele is named to make her first appearance for Broncos after leaving Black Ferns rugby in Aotearoa to link up with NRLWahine. Lafaele is named on the bench for Broncos and she is likely to roll through the middle in combination with Annetta Nu'uausala who is averaging a career-best 99m/game this season.
Unfortunately for Broncos, they are 1-3 heading into their encounter with Raiders. Gayle Broughton is named in the halves for Broncos and Mele Hufanga may line up against Mackenzie Wiki who is named on the extended bench for Raiders. While Wiki seems unlikely to play, Raiders will have Madison Bartlett and Cheyelle Robins-Reti on their left edge, hopefully alongside Kerehitina Matua when she comes off the bench as a edge forward.
Apii Nicholls is at fullback for Raiders as usual and she is thriving after moving to Raiders. Nicholls averages 151m/game after being below 100m/game in her first three seasons and she also has three try assists this season, after registering just one across her first three seasons combined. Nicholls has at least two tackle breaks and two offloads in her last two games.
Sharks travel to Knights with Annessa Biddle and Harta Butler in their team, while Knights have promoted Laishon Albert-Jones to starting edge forward. Shanice Parker, Abigail Roache and Nita Maynard are in their usual roles for Knights.
Albert-Jones played 38 minutes off the bench in last round's win over Broncos after grabbing 20-25mins in her first three games. How Albert-Jones performs as a starting edge forward will be interesting given the lack of edge forwards from Aotearoa, although that has been tweaked recent with Albert-Jones joining Pule and Matua as NRLWahine edge forwards.
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