The Town and Country women’s teams will feature for the first time in the Tri Nations 15s Competition which kicks off this Saturday at Raemaru Park in Arorangi.

The two women’s teams will clash at 1pm in the curtain raiser match to the men’s battle between the Cook Islands Residents and Tabusoro Fiji Residents.

Cook Islands Rugby Union president Simiona Teiotu says women’s rugby will feature for the first time in the 2024 edition of the annual Tri Series.

Teiotu says women’s rugby is growing bigger internationally and the aim this year is to get the Cook Islands women’s teams to represent the country at international 7s and 15s competitions.

“We are hoping that our women’s rugby will grow, we will pick up as we progress for 2024 and 2025 … this a huge milestone.”

Town side coach Wallace Aroita says it is a privilege to be part of this tournament.

“Every year, we’re always inspiring the community and what this tournament has done, and also just the club itself, has now inspired women to come into the club. The world is changing and the direction World Rugby is taking now is having the inclusion of females into the sport,” Aroita said.

“This is not only another opportunity for us to play the game, but it’s a preparation for the future. It’s a very vast opportunity, so for us to be part of this tournament just allows us, again, another opportunity to get our practices and just get our women into the game.”

Aroita said this week they mainly focused on recruiting since they have just finished the domestic union season.

“It’s only been a week since we’ve had that conversation about getting ready for the Tri Nations tournament. So at the moment we’ve finally got players to the list.”

Aroita said the players and management from both teams met as a group for the first time yesterday. They hope to deliver some very important rugby components and set a standard despite being late in preparation.

“Then we will go into separating both teams. As it is, rugby is not a sport well-known to women. So this is a way for us to nurture our women into the sport.

“There’s a lot of important factors, safety wise, which we need to address with women so that they can continue to grow the right way, rather than go through the game and find out it’s too late. That’s the plan.”

The Town and Country women’s teams will get more game time, playing three matches each, as opposed to the Cook Islands Residents, Tabusoro and defending champions Tokouso, who will play two games each.

“There’re only two women’s teams in the competition so we will play the best of three,” Aroita said.

“It is the very first time for women’s rugby to be introduced into rugby union. There’s a lot of positivity, especially coming off the club season, and there’s bigger reasons behind why we want to join this competition.”

Aroita adds that it is important to prepare for women’s rugby globally, as there are opportunities and more tournaments coming up, not just for teams but also for individual women.

“And we require our players to be ready for those opportunities … We’ve got to try and do the work here and prepare our locals for those opportunities, so we get a chance.”

Aroita, who has just returned from Fiji attending a World Rugby training for coaching and development, said that being a women’s 15s coach is a great opportunity for him to apply the knowledge he gained from the training.

“It’s a privilege also for me and as coaches to have this opportunity to coach, and at the same time, continue to support the next generation that’s coming through.”