Hamilton: The Women’s sporting capital for this weekend

The Blacks Ferns are taking on Australia and the Silver Ferns are facing off with England, with Hamilton the place to be this weekend for women’s sports.

The Blacks Ferns are taking on the old-rival Australia in a one off test match at FMG Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The game kicks off at 4.35pm, and is the second game for the Laurie O’Reilly Cup. A men’s NPC game between Waikato and Canterbury will be the curtain raiser for the game at 2.05pm

The Promotion picture of the upcoming Black Ferns vs Australia test match. Photo from Black Ferns Instagram Page

While the cup itself will likely be kept by the Blacks Ferns after a 50-0 win earlier in the season, the Wallaroos will be hoping that after 24 attempts, they can do something no other Australian team before them has done and record a win.

The closest Australia have come was way back in 2008 with a narrow 16-22 defeat in Sydney.

While a win is still unlikely, given the depth of the squad and the looming problems that the Australian team faces when it come to pay disputes with Australia Rugby, you can never count out the old foe.

Both teams will be looking to build on the upcoming World XV tournament, happening in New Zealand next month.

The other sporting fixture in Hamilton this weekend, is the Silver Ferns vs England in the deciding Netball match for the Taini Jamison trophy.

After England’s surprising upset in game 1, beating the Silver Ferns by one goal in Christchurch last weekend, the Silver Ferns bounced back with a 21 goal win in game 2 in Wellington mid-week. It is all up for grabs on Saturday night at the GLOBOX Arena in Claudelands, from 7pm.

The Blacks Ferns are expected to win the game, after a dominant showing in game 2 and with some calling this the England “B” squad for the series. But take nothing away from the red roses and a win would surely prove the nay-sayers wrong.