Hurricanes Poua

By Frank Neill

Milly Mackey took a step up in her Rugby career when she was selected as a halfback for the Hurricanes Poua in this year’s Super Rugby Aupiki.

The 20-year-old has been playing Rugby since she was five. During much of her earlier career she played the sport in teams comprised mainly of boys.

Australia, who had a best throw of 57.92 metres.

Two New Zealanders made podium fishes in the 100 metres. Eddie Osei-Nketia was pipped by Australian ace Rohan Browning by just 0.01 seconds, while Tiaan Whelpton finished third.

Tauranga’s Sam Tanner finished second in the feature John Landy mile race behind Australia’s Ollie Hoare.

Sam ran an outdoor personal best of 3 minutes 53.83 seconds.

Milly attended Newlands College and when the school was not able to muster enough players to make up a team she was given a dispensation to play senior Rugby for Paremata-Plimmerton when she was aged 16.

She played 33 games for the club, scoring 32 tries and kicked 15 conversions.

Three years later she was selected to play for the Wellington Pride, making her debut in the Pride’s 13-5 victory over Otago at Jerry Collins Stadium in Porirua last year.

That was the first of her eight appearances for the Pride.

Her association with the Pride goes back a few years more, how- ever, when she was a ball girl for the provincial team.

A teacher aide at Rewa Rewa School in Newlands, Milly is also employed by the Wellington Football Union as one of six “activators” in the Rugby Her Way programme.

This programme aims to double the number of women and girls playing Rugby in the Wellington region to 3,500 over the next three years.

In her role with Rugby Her Way, Milly will be running girls-only junior skill sessions and holiday programmes, and junior and secondary school development days. Rugby Her Way provides a safe place for all girls, regardless of their age or ability, to be introduced to the basics of Rugby.

Milly comes from Rugby lineage. Her father, Mo Mackey, coached Wellington to two national finals in 2000 and 2001. Mo, assistant coach Nigel Solomon, Black Ferns Izzy Ford, Erin Rush and Rebecca Liua’ana and Manu Sina international Ainslie Sauvao named the Wellington women’s team “The Pride”.