Arrowtown-raised rugby player Olive Watherston, who’s just 18, has continued her meteoric rise by playing for the Bay of Plenty Volcanix this season.
Playing on the wing, Olive started the Tauranga-based side’s first three Farah Palmer Cup games, which included a first ever win against Auckland.
However, towards the end of her third game, against Waikato, in which she scored a try, she was concussed.
That’s meant she’s had to sit out their other games, including yesterday’s last round-robin fixture against Canterbury.
‘‘It just depends on whether we make the semis whether I’ll be playing again [this season],’’ she says.
Olive made her first-class debut for Otago Spirit last year — ironically, for their game against Bay of Plenty.
This year, she shifted to Mount Maunganui, and Mount Maunganui College, for her last year of school.
That was on the recommendation of her former Wakatipu High coach, ex-New Zealand sevens star Brad Fleming, in order to progress her sporting career.
‘‘He used to live here so he had a lot of contacts with the rugby up here.’’
Olive says she’s enjoyed her first fullish season of rep rugby.
‘‘It’s been very, very cool, I felt like I’ve had a huge improvement in my rugby, so I’ve been loving it.’’
Her ambition’s still to play sevens for NZ.
For that to happen, she says staying in the Bay is ‘‘a very good spot for that’’.
In another irony, she got her first big break at the Mount in 2020.
When she was just 16, she was one of four high school students selected for a sevens tournament there.
That was also the first time she played against adult women.
