The Dunedin under-9 Crocodiles team has a distinctly feminine touch.
Five of the 16 members are girls, which is a high number for a side which plays a full-on tackle game every week.
Katelin Parnell (8), Brooke Parnell (10), Chloe Lui (9), Hollie D'Arcy (9) and Madison D'Arcy (10) are all in the team which plays every week on just under half a field. Tackling is allowed and encouraged.
Rippa Rugby is played from under-7 and below. Dunedin has a Rippa team with five girls but it is rarer to have so many females in a tackle grade.
Girls can be dispensated down a grade by age and, with Dunedin not having an under-10 team, some of the girls had to come down a grade.
Team manager Kara Sutherland said four of the girls played in the backline while Chloe was in the forwards.
They had different backgrounds - some did Highland dancing, and they had tried other sports but all were enjoying their rugby.
''They take on players twice their size but they still manage to get them down,'' she said.
The side had won about half their games and were treated no differently by their team-mates and the opposition.
''They wouldn't want it any other way. The girls are doing very well and just get stuck into the game.
"Once they start playing no-one makes any allowance they are girls. They are just part of the team.''
