Sisters are doing it for themselves It is normally around this time of year that hordes of young Kiwis pack up and head off for Spain in search of sun, sand and everything else that comes with a holiday in the Mediterranean. Spanish sisters Eider and Ioana Barrena Saleado have bucked that trend by touching down in New Zealand just in time for another unpredictable Kiwi winter. - By Dave Campbell Luckily enough, the weather has been the least pressing of the rugby-loving siblings concerns (although Auckland's unrelenting rainfall was noted) since arriving in the country. They aren't here for sightseeing, in fact, they aren't in New Zealand for any kind of relaxation. The Barrena Saleado sisters, both four-year veterans of the powerful Spanish women's rugby team, have come to New Zealand to play a season of club rugby with the premier Ponsonby women's team, and maybe even take a little inside information back to their homeland with them. Eider (second-five) and Ioana (prop) have been playing rugby together for almost a decade now. The pair joined their local club side, Elorrio Rugby Taleda, when womens rugby was introduced to their home town in Basque country, Northern Spain, eight years ago. It was a new sport for us. We live in a small town and before rugby we used to play basketball, said Eider, speaking on behalf of sister Ioana, whose English is not quite as polished.They made a new ground near to our house. We went along and a girl asked us if we wanted to play, so we did. The rest, as they say, is history. Eider and Ioana are now regarded as two of the better players in their positions in womens international rugby. The Spanish womens team is currently ranked amongst the top five international sides. They finished seventh at the last Womens Rugby World Cup, losing 46-3 to the victorious New Zealand side in the quarter-finals. Eider said that one of the the primary objectives of their visit to New Zealand was to learn how the game is played, and in particular, training and fitness techniques. In New Zealand, they emphasis more on fitness. We have to improve our fitness. It's harder playing club rugby here in New Zealand than in Spain, even though our national team has the best fitness level of any of the European teams. We still have work to do. The Barrena Saleados sisters have already stood out as star performers in limited appearances for Ponsonby, where Ioana has held her own against bigger and more physically imposing props, and Eider has been carving up midfield defences and landing goals from all over the field. Eider expects that the New Zealand visit should pay dividends for the sisters on their return to Spain. The next World Cup is in Barcelona. We are here because of that, said Eider. We can learn in New Zealand and then take what we have learnt back to the national side in Spain.