NRLWahine Spotlight: Tatiana Finau & Sarina Masaga Debuts
The NRLWahine wave continues to build momentum after the debuts of Tatiana Finau for Raiders and Sarina Masaga for Titans. They join Maateleio Fotu-Moala (Dragons), Matekino Gray (Titans) and Lavinia Tauhalaliku (Cowboys) as NRLWahine debutants this season with all five recently moving to Australia to pursue rugby league opportunities.
Finau only played 6 minutes off the bench for Raiders in their win over Dragons with 2 runs - 22m @ 11m/run and 1 tackle @ 50%. Raiders had just taken a 32-28 lead when Finau entered the game and she mainly played through the middle during a crucial phase of the game, with Raiders chasing their second win of the season.
NRLWahine Amelia Pasikala scored for Raiders soon after Finau got on the field and despite a late try for Dragons, Raiders won 38-34. Finau looked powerful with her two runs and she is fast for a middle forward, which along with the return to Wairoa's Pasikala, gave Raiders a late dose of oomph.
Finau made plenty of representative teams as a Mt Albert and Pt Chevalier junior before moving to Australia to enter the Bulldogs (Tarsha Gale/NSW Women's Premiership) system last year. This led to a deal with the Raiders along with sister Claudia who is on a development contract.
Both Finau sisters made the 2022 NZRL Under 18 Team of the Tournament with Tatiana linked to Pt Chev and Claudia listed as a Mt Albert junior. This post from has them both linked back to Mt Albert so that's probably where they started. Raiders were stacked with NRLWahine even though Mackenzie Wiki missed the win over Dragons due to injury:
Apii Nicolls, Madison Bartlett, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Ash Quinlan, Felice Quinlan, Kerehitina Matua, Amelia Pasikala, Tatiana Finau
That's eight out of 17 players in the Raiders team coming from Aotearoa. Then on Sunday, Titans promoted Masaga to play centre in their loss to Eels alongside NRLWahine Niall Williams-Guthrie, Georgia Hale, Ngatokotoru Arakua and Gray. Masaga started at centre and played 65mins before leaving the field injured, but her powerful running commanded attention with 15 runs - 142m @ 9.4m/run, 10 tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 12 tackles @ 92.3%.
Masaga is a Howick junior and she moved to Queensland to do a year at Keebra Park High School in 2023, before stepping up to QRL Women's Premiership this year. Masaga played five games for Burleigh with one off the bench and then four as a starting edge forward, but her NRLWahine debut was at left centre.
Depending on her injury, Masaga should get another opportunity for Titans as she was one of the most dynamic runners in this game. Titans have slipped to 3-4 with a 1-4 record in recent weeks and the only team that has scored fewer points than Titans, is Tigers who are 0-7 this season. Titans had 59% possession but struggled to score points while camped in Eels territory.
Masaga led Titans for tackle breaks and despite Titans rolling through clunky attacking phases with Masaga on the field, she was always a threat when the footy swung her way. Masaga joined Gray in making their debuts for Titans this season after Gray made her debut in round four. Coming out of Rotorua Girls High School, Gray also moved to Queensland and went to Marsden State High School before playing for Burleigh in the QRL Women's Premiership this year.
Gray came off the bench in four games and started three in the middle, now she is primarily playing edge forward for Titans. Gray has come off the bench in all four of her NRLW games, playing 30+ minutes in three of them. Unfortunately the opportunities for the young Titans have come during a niggly phase of losses, but along with Finau and the other NRLWahine debutants this season, the quality of women's rugby league in Aotearoa has been on display with how quickly they are moving through Australian systems.
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