Madison Trusler-Clark (left) and Aidan Elvines have made this year’s Hanan Shield secondary school girls’ rugby team. Photo Erin TaskerTheir team’s season may have come to a heartbreaking early end, but two members of the AshHutt girls’ rugby team still have plenty to play for.

Madison Trusler-Clark and Aidan Elvines have been named in the Hanan Shield girls’ team to contest the South Island Under-18 tournament, which is this year being hosted by Methven in the next school holidays.

For Elvines – a 17-year-old number eight – it’s a return to a team she’s been a firm fixture in over recent seasons, but for Trusler-Clark it’s the first time she’s made the cut, and she’s over the moon.

“I definitely didn’t think I would make it because I’m still only under-15, and it’s an under-18 team,” Trusler-Clark said.

But the 15-year-old caught the selectors’ eyes, and although she’s played most of the season at flanker, she’s set to play at second-five or halfback for the Hanan Shield side.

She’s not too worried where she plays on the field though, she’s just happy to be playing.

Trusler-Clark plays rugby, hockey, basketball and, in the summer, softball.

But rugby is the one that is top of the pack, and the one she really sees her playing future in.

“I just want to go as far as I can, if that eventually means dropping everything else, I would definitely do that,” Trusler-Clark said.

It’s a similar story for Elvines.

A Year 13 student this year, the 2019 season was her last for the AshHutt side – a combination of players from Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College – but she plans to continue playing, wherever life takes her.

“I want to keep playing rugby for as long I can, so long as my body will let me,” Elvines said.

She credits her family for getting her into the sport. She’s a rower too, but having a dad and brother involved in rugby prompted her to give the sport a go in Year 9, and she loved it.

It’s been a real family thing for her.

This year her dad was the AshHutt coach and her mum the manager, but unfortunately the season didn’t go as well as they’d hoped. They took on Timaru Girls’ High School in the semi-finals of the Aoraki secondary schoolgirls’ competition and let a lead, and the game, slip through their fingers.

Timaru Girls’ High School went on to take on Craighead in the final, which Craighead won.

The Hanan Shield team – selected from that competition – is a wide cross-section of players from all teams, and while Elvines is one of the more experienced players when it comes to rugby at that level, Trusler-Clark is one of the youngest.

Elvines was a late starter in the sport, compared to Trusler-Clark.

She’s been playing rugby since she was four, and played in boys’ teams up until a couple of seasons ago, giving many a boy a run for their money.

Trusler-Clark said she plays in headgear, so often it wasn’t until the end of games when she took her headgear off to shake hands with the opposition, that a lot of players realised they’d actually been playing a girl.

Playing in a girls’ team, in a girls’ competition, took some getting used to initially, but she loved it and really saw her future in the game.

First though, both Elvines and Trusler-Clark’s attention is on the job at hand – the South Island tournament.

They had a fun season playing for AshHutt, with great team-mates, great coaching staff and great sponsors who all played a vital role in getting the team on the pitch, and if they can finish the season off with a top showing at South Islands, they’ll be happy.

Elvines said two years ago the Hanan Shield girls came second, and with 2018 having been somewhat of a rebuilding year, it’s hoped the side can step it up a notch in 2019.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 30 August 2019