Portia Woodman and her New Zealand team don’t get to play in front of a home crowd during the World Rugby Sevens Series, so they just use their imagination instead.
A pre-game prayer promising to protect their friends and sisters and not allow the opposition into their territory is the bond that forges the New Zealand side, who were impressive in an undefeated start to the Sydney 7s on Friday.
“My biggest thing that pushes me is just protecting my friends, my sisters,” she said.
“Whenever we get to a country we kind of do a karakia, which is a prayer to say that wherever we go we make this land ours.
“We pretend the halfway line is our family and we don’t let anyone in there to score against us.
Allianz Stadium hosted men’s and women’s matches concurrently for the first time in the tournament’s history on Friday, rather than on separate days or in separate stadiums like in the past.
And the rampaging Woodman was the star, scoring 10 tries in three games for the 2017 World Series champions.
Hamilton will replace Wellington and host the leg of the men’s tour next month.
But New Zealand doesn’t hold a leg of the five-stop women’s series, which also includes a Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and World Cup in the USA, this year.
Woodman, who now boasts 161 World Series tries, hopes her side’s success forces officials to take action.
“It is (frustrating), but we’re trying to get it out there and if we keep showing we are as good as we say we are, they can’t not let us (play at home),” she said.
“They seem to find money for certain things, so we’ll keep fighting and doing our thing.”
A 31-0 defeat of the US on Friday was satisfying redemption though, with Woodman adding three tries to go with hauls of four and three earlier in the day.
A grand final collision with Australia, who also dominated their day one pool games, is on the cards but the Kiwis are only looking as far ahead as Saturday’s quarter-final against Ireland.
“Dubai is exactly what we talk about – we beat the US on day one but day two came around and it was a different story,” Woodman said.