Otago Spirit prop Rebekah Wairau is heading for a stint in Spain. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Wairau and Otago Spirit team-mate Cheyenne Cunningham left yesterday for a stint with a Spanish club.
They will be playing for the Eibar club, in the north of Spain, and for 25-year-old prop Wairau, it is a massively significant move in both her life and career.
"I've been asked every year for a while, but it's only just worked out this year, so it's pretty cool," she said.
"I've actually never been overseas. I don't think I would have done it if Cheyenne wasn't coming with me. It makes it a lot easier, and a lot less scary.
"I don't know a whole lot about where we're going but there's someone picking us up from the airport, so that's the main thing. And we're flatting with other players, we think, which should be fun."
Wairau said her Spanish was "minimal" but she knew some of the basics and was looking forward to learning more of the language.
Eibar are top of the Spanish second division with five straight wins as they seek to earn promotion a season after being relegated from the premier league.
Wairau has heard the standard of the division is on a par with the Dunedin club competition or possibly a shade higher.
The pair will spend about five months in Spain and hope to get an opportunity to do some travel around or after their rugby commitments.
Southland-raised Wairau lives in Dunedin, where she works as an electrician.
Her employers had been hugely supportive and she would rejoin them after her Spanish sojourn.
Ideally, she would also need to ask for some more time off next year.
Wairau has 23 caps for the Spirit and solidified her status as a Farah Palmer Cup-quality starting prop last season, so the next step is to fight for a place in a Super Rugby Aupiki squad.
"I've been wanting to crack it, and hopefully there is still a chance.
"I just thought, if I go overseas and get some more experience and just play all year round, it might benefit me. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, I can get a chance."
The Spanish trip will also be an opportunity for the prodigiously talented Cunningham to reignite her career.
She was part of the Matatū squad in Aupiki for two seasons and made the New Zealand XV, but the North Otago farmer dropped down the pecking order a little last year.
