Atawhai_Tupaea

Atawhai Tupaea

Atawhai Tupaea

New Zealand rugby league footballer

Atawhai Tupaea (born 3 February 1989) is a New Zealand rugby league footballer who played as a centre for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL Women's Premiership.

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She is a New Zealand representative.

Background

Born in Papakura, Auckland, Tupaea represented New Zealand in tag, rugby, touch football before switching to rugby league.[1]

Playing career

In 2014, Tupaea began playing for the Papakura Sisters and represented Counties Manukau.[2] On 9 November 2014, she made her Test debut for New Zealand, scoring a try in their 12–8 win over Australia at WIN Stadium.[3] On 28 January 2015, she was named the NZRL Women's Player of the Year.[4]

On 6 May 2016, she started on the wing and scored two tries for New Zealand in their 26–16 win over Australia.[5]

In 2017, she played all five games for New Zealand at the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup, including starting on the wing in their 16–23 final loss to Australia.[6]

In 2019, Tupaea returned to rugby league after a year off and was signed by the New Zealand Warriors NRL Women's Premiership team.[7] In Round 1 of the 2019 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Warriors, starting at centre and scoring a try in their 16–12 win over the Sydney Roosters.[8]

In October 2019, she joined New Zealand's 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s-winning squad.[9]

Atawhai is a proud mum of two and wife

References

  1. [1]
    "Atawhai Tupaea". NZRL.
  2. [2]
    "NZRL Awards Vodafone Warriors in line". NZ Warriors. 21 January 2015.
  3. [3]
    "Kiwi Ferns pip Jillaroos in a thriller". NRL. 9 November 2014.
  4. [4]
    "Mannering's player of the year double". NZ Warriors. 28 January 2015.
  5. [5]
    "Magic night for Kiwi Ferns". NZ Warriors. 7 May 2016.
  6. [6]
    "Ultimate guide to the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup". Fox Sports Australia. 14 November 2017.
  7. [7]
    "Hireme's signing huge coup". NZ Warriors. 10 July 2019.
  8. [8]
    "First NRLW side of season named". NZ Warriors. 10 September 2019.
  9. [9]
    "World Cup winners for WNRL Nines". NZ Warriors. 10 February 2020.


Achievements and accolades

Individual

  • RLPA New Zealand Women's Player of the Year: 2015

Team
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