Coach Wallace Aroita says he is looking forward to seeing Lady Panthers participate at this year’s 9s in Paradise Tournament.

Lady Panthers will be part of the women’s competition which will face Vaine Toa- a team that has top local players and will also face the Lady Bears.

According to Cook Islands Rugby League, the tournament will also feature exhibition matches between the women’s development teams Maine Tueporo Black and Maine Tueporo White.

In an interview with CIRL, Lady Panthers coach, Aroita said preparation has been interesting as most of the teams on the island are facing similar issues, especially just with numbers turning up for training.

“But for us we have never let that put us down in our training sessions. We have been training before Christmas and with the numbers we have built a platform.”
He said that on Monday they had for the first time close to two teams that have become available.

Aorita said the teams are very much local based, with only one player from overseas.

He said it has been great for them to teach the game of rugby and help them love the sport.

“Preps been good… now putting together a team for the week. It is looking good.

“We were not able to get a full Tupapa team, so asked players from neighbouring villages to join. Most exciting is watching the girls put what they have learnt on the field.

“For this weekend… looking forward to representing my village and excited to see them play.”

The annual tournament will kick off tomorrow (Thursday) at the National Stadium in Nikao.