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.
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Atawhai Message | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 February 1989 Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 166 cm (5 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 77 kg (12 st 2 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre, Wing, Fullback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: RLP As of 28 November 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
She is a New Zealand representative.
Background
editBorn in Papakura, Auckland, Tupaea represented New Zealand in tag, rugby, touch football before switching to rugby league.[1]
Playing career
editIn 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
edit- ^ "Atawhai Tupaea". NZRL.
- ^ "NZRL Awards Vodafone Warriors in line". NZ Warriors. 21 January 2015.
- ^ "Kiwi Ferns pip Jillaroos in a thriller". NRL. 9 November 2014.
- ^ "Mannering's player of the year double". NZ Warriors. 28 January 2015.
- ^ "Magic night for Kiwi Ferns". NZ Warriors. 7 May 2016.
- ^ "Ultimate guide to the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup". Fox Sports Australia. 14 November 2017.
- ^ "Hireme's signing huge coup". NZ Warriors. 10 July 2019.
- ^ "First NRLW side of season named". NZ Warriors. 10 September 2019.
- ^ "World Cup winners for WNRL Nines". NZ Warriors. 10 February 2020.
External links
edit
Achievements and accolades
editIndividual
edit- RLPA New Zealand Women's Player of the Year: 2015
Team
edit- 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s: New Zealand – Winners