{"id":564568,"date":"2026-03-26T01:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564568\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T01:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:28:11","slug":"rugby-roller-coaster-on-film-te-awamutu-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564568\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby roller-coaster on film | Te Awamutu News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A special Q&A screening of No Tears on the Field was held at the Regent Theatre Te Awamutu last week. Photo: Jesse Wood\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

No Tears on the Field is an unscripted story of pioneers, triumph, loss and passion in the world of women\u2019s rugby.<\/p>\n

A pre-release screening of the Taranaki-made film was held at the Regent Theatre Te Awamutu last week.<\/p>\n

Producer and director Lisa Burd said there were certainly tears while making the documentary.<\/p>\n

The movie highlighted the commitment involved in Taranaki women\u2019s club rugby and the backstories of several players, including the top international women\u2019s sevens try scorer in history Michaela Brake (nee Blyde).<\/p>\n

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Atalya Fakavamoeanga and Lisa Burd answer questions in the Q&A session with Madmen Entertainment\u2019s Gorjan Markovski. Photo: Jesse Wood<\/p>\n

Burd and Tukapa women\u2019s player (now Stratford) Atalya Fakavamoeanga were there to meet viewers and answer questions following the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks a million for coming. It means the world. We took three years to make this film. I hope you love it. It\u2019s a bit of a roller coaster,\u201d Burd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m born and bred in Taranaki; it was a good excuse to showcase your province. Te Awamutu is similar in a way, without the mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie was made in association with Madmen Entertainment and their New Zealand theatrical sales manager Gorjan Markovski was there to MC the Q&A.<\/p>\n

He posed questions to Burd and Fakavamoeanga before opening the floor to the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played with and against all the girls on the film, and I\u2019ve met some of my best friends, my lifelong friends there as well,\u201d Fakavamoeanga said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a family on the field, you\u2019ve got a family off the field, and you get to play your favourite sport together every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burd provided insight as to why she chose the subject \u2013 even though she\u2019s not a rugby enthusiast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working for the Taranaki Daily News and I was told to go photograph these girls playing rugby. I didn\u2019t know that was still going on,\u201d Burd said. \u201cI was taking photos and this woman was running straight at me \u2013 she was just not going to stop.<\/p>\n

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Atalya Fakavamoeanga and Lisa Burd after the special screening at the Regent Theatre Te Awamutu. Photo: Jesse Wood<\/p>\n

\u201cI clicked a photo and I just knew I needed to know more about how she got to be so strong and resilient. I needed to know what went on behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Burd tours around the countryside with her movie, she also takes a better understanding of farmers and of women in rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see behind the scenes in the farming world and then girls rugby \u2013 what a good combo,\u201d Burd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went on a quad bike and got behind the scenes in the countryside \u2013 100 hours later, we got the 90 minutes out of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good little story about grassroots rugby that needs to be told. This is a good platform start the ball rolling with a bit more support for the girls.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A special Q&A screening of No Tears on the Field was held at the Regent Theatre Te Awamutu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-564568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}