It's pretty hard to keep a smile off Blues winger Katelyn Vaha'akolo's face any time of the day. So, it was no surprise that she was positively beaming after scoring a hat trick in her side's 52-5 win over the Hurricanes Poua at Bell Park on Saturday.
Vaha'akolo was the beneficiary of a huge second half by the Blues, who scored 47 points in 40 minutes. She was most proud of her third try, a sneaky intercept taken when the Poua were desperately trying to run the ball out of their own half.
"I was so happy! I think it's my first time ever doing it," Vaha'akolo said.
"I, like, almost couldn't believe it because it was on the tip of my fingers. So in my head, I was like, my gosh, I'm gonna knock it on."
She didn't, instead holding on and scooting under the posts. It was a big statement from the Blues, who were beaten 17-10 in a far dourer affair last weekend by Chiefs Manawa.
"I think we learned from the plays and obviously last week we weren't getting it to the space that we wanted to get to. So, we just really trained doing that throughout the week and we were able to do that in the game today."
The big second half effort came after a team talk in the changing rooms from injured captain Ruahei Demant.
"She just came in with the energy," said Vaha'akolo.
"And she was like, we need to lift the tempo. We need to put bodies on the ground. We need to have a fast clean. And I think we were able to do that and just keeping the ball alive."
Ironically, the Blues made much better use of a stiff breeze against the Wellington-based side. Veteran Sevens star Niall Williams-Guthrie scored a stunning try after a chip and chase, outgunning the cover defence despite being over a decade older than all of them.
Two of Vaha'akolo's tries were inside five minutes, followed by the intercept late in the game.
This hat trick is the latest feat in a rapid rise to prominence for league convert Vaha'akolo, whose brother Freedom played several seasons with Otago and made a handful of appearances for the Highlanders. Last year, she won World Rugby Women's Breakthrough Player of the Year after an impressive Black Ferns debut season. For now, though, she is intent on winning Super Rugby Aupiki this season.
"Our coach Willie (Walker) actually said, we want to make our mark today," she said.
"And I think we really took from that as a team and were able to really make a statement for ourselves."