Not only was last week's Farah Palmer Cup win by the Bay of Plenty Volcanix over Auckland a history-making effort – their first ever over the traditional heavyweights of women's rugby – but it put a smile on the face of coach Brendon Webby for another reason.

It showed that a season's worth of hard work is paying off.

'It's a campaign,” he says.

'We started planning – seems like a long time ago now – at the start of the year. We took a little while to settle in to the Premiership I think, and probably for the girls to see the evidence that they are actually deserving of being in this division. And we've seen that in the last two or three weeks.

'There were glimpses of it in the first two or three games but they've really strung it together and there's been really good buy-in by the group now into what we're trying to do.”

It helped that the 34-29 victory came at Eden Park too.

'It's our national rugby venue, it's pretty impressive, and a bloody nice pitch to play on so it did add to the pleasure of winning up there.”

A resurgent Auckland came close to taking it away from the Volcanix late in the second half, but Brendon says the desperate last ditch defence from his team that protected the win was especially good to see.

'Yeah it definitely was. We actually do practice that, those situations, so it was really pleasing to see the girls applying that, and the heart and desire they showed to want to win. That really showed through in that last five or six minutes, they stood up. The more you watch that bit of tape the more you think that was actually pretty bloody good.”

The result lifted them off the bottom of the Premiership division table, above Auckland. It means they've now gone from a position of staring at relegation back to the Championship division they escaped from last year to potentially being in the running for a semifinal berth.

That depends on the team above them, Manawatu, losing to Hawkes Bay tomorrow, as well as the Volcanix taking out their clash with Counties Manukau at Pukekohe's Navigation Homes Stadium, but that's a job Brendon says his team is up for.

'We're definitely backing ourselves. We think we've got the team and the skillset to go up there and get a win.

'We think we've got a gameplan to match what suits our girls. There's definitely areas where we we're lacking and they'll be better than us, size being one of those things, but we've got a gameplan and a structure to suit us and if we can just play our game, and have that belief in ourselves, I think we'll be fine.

'We're big fans of just concentrating on us.”

Part of that gameplan is to get the ball as much as possible to the attacking weapons stacking the backline, such as Ora Williams, Renee Wickliffe, and Sapphire Tapsell, who cut up the Auckland defence last week.

'Those girls have really stepped up,” says Brendon. 'And Sapphire Tapsell at fullback, she's been tremendous in the last couple of weeks. If you watch her, what she does, she's actually doing some pretty special work in there. Her draw-pass, putting players away, it's top-level stuff.

'And we just want to maintain that and we want our forwards to work hard and give the ball to the backs and let them have the freedom to express themselves.”

Halfback Jade Tuilaepa, one of those who cut up Auckland's defence at times, is unavailable for tomorrow's match due to family commitments in Samoa, but Brendon says they will cover that by moving Ora Williams in one position to the nine jersey and bringing Renee Holmes to first five-eight.

'We haven't got her, but it gives other people the opportunity to step up and be part of what we think is something pretty special with what we're trying to create.”

Otherwise the side is very close to the lineup that did the job over Auckland. Prop Angel Mulu returning from injury to start, moving Baye Jacob to tight head, and Braxton Walker onto the bench, are the only changes to the forward pack.

Joining Walker on the bench will be Calli Perrott and Mikyla Wardlaw as locking cover. Te Rina Mohi drops out of the 22 due to sickness, making way for Tracey Lemon.

Olivia Richardson and Tania Raharuhi will be the reserve cover for the backs.

Bay of Plenty Volcanix to meet Counties Manukau at Navigation Homes Stadium, Pukekohe, at 5:05 tomorrow (appearances in brackets):

1. Angel Mulu (4), 2. Lily Florence (18), 3. Baye Jacob (16), 4. Kate Henwood (18), 5. Amanda Aldridge (10), 6. Kendra Reynolds (24), 7. Les Elder (8), 8. Christie Yule (17) (C), 9. Ora Williams (11), 10. Renee Holmes (3), 11. Emily Magee (3), 12. Renee Wickliffe (4), 13. Hana Tapiata (13), 14. Polly Playle (11), 15. Sapphire Tapsell (18)

Reserves:

16. Rawinia Luka (3), 17. Braxton Walker (5), 18. Calli Perrott (19), 19. Mikyla Wardlaw (11), 20. Tracey Lemon (1), 21. Tania Raharuhi (12), 22. Olivia Richardson (2)