Latest news with #BlackFerns
ABC News
5 hours ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Oneata Schwalger is wasting no time in transitioning from player to coach
The saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is a statement that often rings true throughout the Pacific Islands, and it's no different for Samoan-Australian rugby talent Oneata Schwalger. Raised by a handful of strong Pasifika women who were athletes turned coaches, Schwalger is now travelling the world to make that same transition. However, when she began, she had to wear headgear to conceal that she was a girl. "The [competing] school complained that you can't have girls… [my] coaches were awesome, they said keep coming to training… so I ended up being their water girl and I'd still train with the boys," she said. But footy as a kid wasn't something that Oneata was going to give up on just because of her gender, and seeing her persistence, her father ended up getting in touch with their local women's rugby club at Northern United. "I was really lucky; my coaches were Black Ferns and Manusina players, so as a 15-year-old, I was learning the ways from top players when I was young… when I came to play against girls my age, so I knew what I was doing," Oneata said. Samoan-Australian rugby talent Oneata Schwalger. ( Image: Instagram/@coachonez ) In her early 20s, Oneata moved to Perth to play rugby, but not too long after, she fell pregnant. Although this meant a considerable break, Oneata was still keen to get back in the game, and her next move took her and her two sons to Melbourne. Oneata Schwalger with her sons. ( Image: Instagram/@coachonez ) It was a make-or-break moment in her life and footy career and she knew she just had to make it work. "I was a single parent at the time; everything I had to do was to work around their schedule and my schedule, so when I trained, they trained with me," she said. "So it was always something that we did together." The COVID-19 pandemic marked another shift. With team sports cancelled until further notice, to get out of the house, Oneata and her boys spent most of their days at the park training. People started noticing. "It was during lockdown time that kids wouldn't play at their clubs, and I was always at the park anyway with them. Some other parents asked me if I wanted to coach their kids". Oneata was clear with her kids: "When I coach, I always say I'm not your mum. I'm your coach." And so her coaching dream gathered a bit more steam. But the coaching path for females isn't as easy and well-trodden as it is for men. Oneata had to use the lessons learnt from life and the wisdom imparted on her to carve out a path not too many other female athletes end up on. "As athletes, you see that [female representation] now… but in the female space, I was actually like I don't know that many female coaches to reach out to… but I actually know a lot more male coaches… I reached out to them and they got back to me straight away." It's been one inspiring journey for coach Oneata Schwalger. ( Image: Instagram/@coachonez ) One of the responses included Moana Pasifika's Tana Umaga, and he ended up taking her under his wing earlier this year. One big lesson from Umaga was the importance of listening to your players and adapting to the subconscious feedback from your players. Despite being coached by a line of hard-knock coaches where yelling was the norm, Umaga coached his team very differently. "[I asked] 'What changed for you?' Because he was coached that way, but he found that his delivery wasn't working anymore with this new generation of players… So I'm like, 'Ok, cool, he was coached like I was, but we just have to find ways to deliver our message so it lands with our athletes, whether it's boys or girls'."
IOL News
19 hours ago
- Sport
- IOL News
30 days to go: Johannes-Haupt confident Bok Women can put on good show in hometown against Black Ferns
Springbok Women's assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt will focus heavily on the breakdown with the forwards this week. Picture: SA Rugby Image: SA Rugby Laurian Johannes-Haupt feels when she faced up to the mighty Black Ferns haka at the Women's Rugby World Cup back in 2010, the women's game was virtually unrecognisable from the high-impact professional sport it has now transformed into. The Springbok Women's assistant coach is the embodiment of the change within the game after the 40-year-old swapped her classroom at Athlone High School in Cape Town for a Bok tracksuit on a fulltime basis at the beginning of the year. Johannes-Haupt can now focus all her energies on preparing the Boks for their all-important clash against the Black Ferns XI in her hometown when the traditional rivals meet at the historic Athlone Stadium on Saturday. 'We played them in the 2010 World Cup and from where the game has gone to, there's been massive, massive improvements,' Johannes-Haupt said, on the sidelines of the Boks training at UCT on Monday. 'The game has evolved so much. The Black Ferns come with a special skill set. Their skill set is really unmatched. They play from all over the park. They have a good set piece as well. We're in for quite a good game and I think we're going to give them a good show.' The @WomenBoks working hard at UCT ahead of their match against the @BlackFerns XV at Athlone Stadium on Saturday. @IOL @IOLsport — Zaahier Adams (@ZaahierAdams) July 21, 2025 Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The Black Ferns are six-times world champions and will be one of the favourites to raise the trophy a seventh time when the Women's Rugby World Cup gets underway in exactly 30 days in England next month. The Kiwis have therefore sent a second-string squad to face the 12th ranked Boks. Johannes-Haupt feels this is no less a challenge with plenty of the Black Ferns squad in Cape Town boasting Test-match experience. 'It's not the regular players, but there are quite a few capped Black Ferns in their team, as well as a few Sevens players of the Black Ferns,' she said. 'We're preparing for a proper physical encounter because we've watched their previous games, we know what to expect and we're just going to do what we need to do for the game to be successful.' The Bok Women have been preparing steadily themselves for WRWC25 with two hard-fought Test matches against No 2 ranked Canada leading up to the clashes with the Black Ferns. Springbok Women lock Vainah Ubisi is fit and firing again after an injury layoff. Photo: BackpagePix Image: BackpagePix The home team showed significant improvement in the second Test, especially at the breakdown where they stalled the momentum of the Canadians. 'We definitely want to get better at the breakdown. The first game against Canada, we weren't that good at the breakdown,' Johannes-Haupt said. 'Second one, we came out sharper and now we just want to carry on with that trend going into the Black Ferns game. 'Our transitional play could also be better and that's what we're going in for. We want to transition better and want to play a more attacking brand of and finishing it. 'We definitely want to give it our best showing and want to take our good positives going into the World Cup because it's all part of the prep for the ultimate goal, the World Cup.' The Boks' chances have been boosted with the return of influential lock Vainah Ubisi, who was nominated for SA Rugby Women's Player of the Year last year, after her recovery from a serious knee injury. Johannes-Haupt feels Ubisi's contagious positive spirit has also rubbed off on the rest of the squad. 'She (Ubisi) was beaming. Beaming with excitement just to be able to be back on the park,' she said. 'Firstly, she's been waiting a long time to get back and she's been doing well. It's good to see her back in form and there's still a road ahead of her, but she's good to go. 'It's always special to have our younger ones back. She's like 23 years old. She's built a lot of experience from the WXV to where she is now, so to transition her back into the game is just special and everybody just loves having everyone around, so it's good vibes all the way.'
Scoop
2 days ago
- Sport
- Scoop
Rugby: Wallaroo Waiaria Ellis Says New Zealand Was 'The Best Place To Debut'
, Henare te Ua Māori Journalism Intern Western Sydney schoolgirl Waiaria Ellis debuted for the Wallaroos last weekend, playing for her country against her other home side. The Laurie O'Reilly cup match between the Black Ferns and the Wallaroos at Sky Stadium meant the Australian pocket rocket became the second-youngest debutant in Wallaroos history at 17 years and 305 days. Ellis, who is nicknamed 'Baba', was just 60 days short of Caitlyn Halse's record set in 2024. "I wasn't expecting to debut so soon. I thought that I would have had a few more training camps and that, because I'd been to a few, but I just wasn't expecting it, so it's literally so surreal," Ellis said. "There's definitely no better place to debut, to be honest. Like, just being Māori, then being able to debut in New Zealand and versing New Zealand was pretty crazy, but it was amazing." The Castle Hill High Schooler started in the number 14 jersey on the same wing as Katelyn Vaha'akolo. The Black Ferns clinched a 37-12 win over the Aussies. Her mum flew over the Tasman to the capital, and her koro, nan, and aunty drove down from Tūrangi. The Ngāti Tūwharetoa descendant said that having the backing of her family was everything. "I'm just so proud to be Māori. Our culture, our connection to the land, and just my family. Family is a lot to us. It is important." Her dad Ben Ellis played in the NRL for St George Illawarra and captained the New Zealand Māori Rugby League team in 2008. Her sister Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis has also played in the NRLW for the Parramatta Eels. The young Ellis looked up to both her dad and her big sister. "My dad helped coach me and everything, and he played in the NRL as well. He knows a lot about footy and he's just helped me a lot with everything in my career. "But then, a few years ago, my sister debuted for Para, Parramatta NRLW, and she was the first junior Parramatta player to play for the women - the first junior one to come through the path - she was actually a very big idol of mine, I looked up to her." She also praised her teammate Caitlyn Halse, who is another strong contender for the number 15 jersey. "She's very, very good, and she's so young, like, she's just a year older than me but she's achieved so much, and, she's just such a great player." Ellis hasn't been playing the 15-aside game long but owes her nifty playmaking ability to rugby league - the sport she has been playing since she was five years old. She has also worn the green and gold in junior Australian gymnastics, Oztag, and schoolgirls sevens. In just her second year on the rugby pitch, she scored a spot in the NSW Waratahs Super Rugby Women's team at 16. The Waratahs won the Super W championship back-to-back, defeating the Queensland Reds 43-21 this year. "Super W season is one of my favourites. The girls are just really good to be around." With a Wallaroo cap under her belt, Ellis wants to see where her rugby career can take her. "Australia has given me everything, all my opportunities and stuff. So I feel like that's who I should be representing." "But also, if I was in a black jersey, I'd be very proud to be in a black jersey as well - both I'd be very grateful for if I ever had to swap for anything." And the utility back isn't limiting her options. "I definitely would want to give sevens a crack." But for now, Ellis' focus is impressing selectors for the Women's Rugby World Cup in England. "Obviously I do other sports and stuff, but I've just been really concentrating on 15s, just because that's, like, the World Cup is literally the pinnacle of our sport. Everyone wants to achieve that, so that would be pretty amazing." Wallaroos head coach Jo Yapp said in a pre-match statement that the coaching staff are "all really pleased for Waiaria." "She has an excellent skillset and her youthfulness has a great effect on the playing group. We are confident in her ability to take the next step at this level." Australia is hosting Wales in a two-test series on 26 July in Brisbane and 1 August in Sydney in preparations for the Rugby World Cup. A squad of 32 will be selected for the World Cup following the match in Sydney, then will jet off for the UK on 11 August.
The 42
3 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
'People say treat the World Cup like any other game, but I want it to feel different'
BEIBHINN PARSONS REMEMBERS patting the turf behind her, wondering when her hand would locate a leg she already knew was broken. It was a painfully familiar feeling. Just over four months earlier, Parsons had broken her leg at the Paris Olympics. She missed Ireland's remarkable WX1 campaign as a result and now, just two weeks into her comeback at the Cape Town Sevens last December, a tackle had triggered a crunch of bone and metal which told Parsons all she needed to know. The shock overrode the pain to the extent there was no scream, no shout for help. 'I just placed the ball back and play went on and on,' Parsons tells The 42. 'The physios didn't come on for ages and I sort of turned around and look at the bench and was like 'I really need some help here', because it wasn't about the pain, it was just, heartbroken, heart sunk, I can't believe I'm here again.' The two injuries essentially wiped a year out of Parsons' career. She wasn't on the pitch when Ireland stormed to a stunning defeat of the Black Ferns at WXV1 last year, a tournament where Scott Bemand's resurgent side would finish second in the table – clear of Canada, New Zealand, France and the US. She sat out the entire 2025 Six Nations. Ireland's meeting with Scotland in Cork on 2 August will be her first international at 15s level since the 2024 Six Nations. She returns to a group driven by a renewed sense of ambition. In a month's time Ireland open their 2025 Rugby World Cup pool campaign against Japan in Northampton, before games against Spain and New Zealand. Parsons has the talent to be one of the tournament's standout players. There's a reason she debuted at Test level at the age of just 16, becoming Ireland's youngest international in the process. Now 23, the Ballinasloe native is able to look back at that time and acknowledge the strangeness of it all, a young girl entering an elite, adult sporting environment. 'It was definitely daunting at times,' she admits. 'I was so young that I couldn't share a room with anyone, there was this child protection thing. I never had a roomie, so I had to be so on it with the schedule and where to be and stuff like that. So I think a lot of the time I was just sort of like, 'Oh my God, where am I meant to be? What am I doing?' All of it was so new to me. Advertisement Parsons debuted for Ireland at 16. Tommy Dickson / INPHO Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO 'It was a lot to take in all at once, but the team were great and I never really felt that young, no one really made me feel out of place. 'But I remember a lot of it was me cramming doing school work. Anna Caplice, she helped me with my German oral. I could drive at the time and gave one of the girls, Laura Feely lifts from Galway, but on the way up we'd be chatting here and there and it would come to a point and I'd be like, right, I have 40 minutes left in this journey, I'm going to pull into Applegreen and do some work for my Irish oral. A lot of it was me just trying to manage everything and get through school, and they helped me a lot with that. But I just kept thinking I'll probably be out by next week or I won't ever get selected, so it all sort of came as a shock.' GAA had been the most prominent sport for the Parsons – Beibhinn is a cousin of former Mayo footballer Tom Parsons – but rugby was the game that captured her imagination. Having first played at U11s, it was U13s before she was part of an all-girls team in Ballinasloe. 'I remember my first season of playing with the boys. Honestly I don't think I knew a single rule. I don't even think I knew I was playing rugby, but I just remember it being loads of fun and it was something different and it was much easier than Gaelic football I thought at the time, just get the ball and run! I enjoyed it a lot. 'When I was playing for Ballinasloe I never felt like there was any barriers, I never felt like I was any different to the boys team because the coaches and the staff and the volunteers and the parents were just so committed to us playing and winning, and that's the way I still see it down there.' As it happened, she was pretty good at getting the ball and running. Parsons played her way to trials with Connacht and was soon catching the eye of the international coaches. Describing her family as half GAA-mad and half not the slightest bit interested in sport, the rugby world was a new experience. That naivety sheltered Parsons and those closest to her from some of the hype which surrounded this rising talent. 'Not coming from a rugby household, they didn't know what (to expect)… Like this 'first cap' thing, that was a new phrase for us and it wasn't really bigged up at all. We didn't make it into this massive thing and a lot of it went over my head and in some ways I didn't take it all in, but I'm sort of happy for that as well because I think if I was to make my first cap tomorrow, I'd be so nervous and rattled and just make it into something that's absolutely massive, whereas it was like ripping off a band aid without even noticing it then.' She now has 26 Test caps to her name, alongside her achievements playing Sevens – which included a run to the quarter-finals in last year's Paris Olympics. Before it came to such a cruel end, Parsons loved the Olympic experience, the sheer size and scale of the event fuelling her desire to help Ireland put a mark on this World Cup. An event like that has the ability to bring out your best or bring out your worst and it's a decision to really embrace the occasion. 'That's one thing I thought I did in the Olympics, I just wanted to go for it. I really wanted to embrace the occasion and instead of going into my shell, come out of it. That's definitely the way I want to approach the World Cup. 'People say to treat it like any other game, but for me that doesn't work, I want to know that I'm at a World Cup and I want it to feel different and I'm not just playing a club team in some backyard, I'm playing for my country at a World Cup and I think you should embrace that, not shy away from it.' The good news for Ireland is that Parsons' recovery has gone according to plan. She praises the work of IRFU physio Eduard Mias, who oversaw her rehab plan, but admits to moments of frustration during the long process of building her leg back up, which included re-evaluating her running technique during the three months where the plyometric speed exercises which help build muscle power were off the table. The work felt worth it when she clocked her top speed of 9 m/s again. 'That was a big like monkey on my back. Then I could sort of be calm about it and be like, OK, at least I'm not defected.' Parsons faced two long rehab spells over the last 12 months. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO Just like her early days in camp, Parsons balanced her training load with her education. Studying Communications in DCU, Parsons' teammates became subjects for her dissertation – Relational Dialectics Theory in Elite Female Sport. 'I had focus groups of the girls,' she explains. 'The theory is just balancing tensions, so say with media it might be the tension of wanting visibility but also the want of having privacy and how you balance that, or does that come up for you? So we just figured out what sort of tensions there are, is it you want to be really strong, but you also want to be really feminine? These sort of tensions that are rising and how you navigate that really.' Parsons knows what a good World Cup would mean for this Ireland team, who had the seismic setback of not qualifying for the 2021 tournament. Given the lows the women's game has experienced on this island over the years, she also know the potential effect it could have on the game in Ireland. 'Those two warm up games . . . it's been so long since I've been on a 15s pitch and those moments after when you're with kids and they've travelled to Cork or Belfast, they're the Holy Grail. You just want to give people as much time as you can in those moments because you never know what it is that'll spark it off for them that they're like, I want to go for this and be serious about it. 'I had a coach once, Aiden McNulty [former Ireland Women's Sevens head coach]. We were going to a Sevens World Cup and he gave this presentation on how World Cups have the potential to change lives, and that's something I keep thinking of. I know it was for a Sevens World Cup, but he talked about him watching soccer World Cups growing up and wanting that… A World Cup does have the power to ignite something within someone and it's definitely something I'm cognisant of.'
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Rugby: Wallaroo Waiaria Ellis says New Zealand was 'the best place to debut'
Waiaria Ellis started on the wing for the Wallaroos against the Black Ferns Photo: Kerry Marshall / Western Sydney schoolgirl Waiaria Ellis debuted for the Wallaroos last weekend, playing for her country against her other home side. The Laurie O'Reilly cup match between the Black Ferns and the Wallaroos at Sky Stadium meant the Australian pocket rocket became the second-youngest debutant in Wallaroos history at 17 years and 305 days. Ellis, who is nicknamed 'Baba', was just 60 days short of Caitlyn Halse's record set in 2024. "I wasn't expecting to debut so soon. I thought that I would have had a few more training camps and that, because I'd been to a few, but I just wasn't expecting it, so it's literally so surreal," Ellis said. "There's definitely no better place to debut, to be honest. Like, just being Māori, then being able to debut in New Zealand and versing New Zealand was pretty crazy, but it was amazing." The Castle Hill High Schooler started in the number 14 jersey on the same wing as Katelyn Vaha'akolo. The Black Ferns clinched a 37-12 win over the Aussies. Waiaria Ellis looks for a gap Photo: Kerry Marshall / Her mum flew over the Tasman to the capital, and her koro, nan, and aunty drove down from Tūrangi. The Ngāti Tūwharetoa descendant said that having the backing of her family was everything. "I'm just so proud to be Māori. Our culture, our connection to the land, and just my family. Family is a lot to us. It is important." Her dad Ben Ellis played in the NRL for St George Illawarra and captained the New Zealand Māori Rugby League team in 2008. Her sister Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis has also played in the NRLW for the Parramatta Eels. The young Ellis looked up to both her dad and her big sister. "My dad helped coach me and everything, and he played in the NRL as well. He knows a lot about footy and he's just helped me a lot with everything in my career. "But then, a few years ago, my sister debuted for Para, Parramatta NRLW, and she was the first junior Parramatta player to play for the women - the first junior one to come through the path - she was actually a very big idol of mine, I looked up to her." She also praised her teammate Caitlyn Halse, who is another strong contender for the number 15 jersey. "She's very, very good, and she's so young, like, she's just a year older than me but she's achieved so much, and, she's just such a great player." Ellis hasn't been playing the 15-aside game long but owes her nifty playmaking ability to rugby league - the sport she has been playing since she was five years old. She has also worn the green and gold in junior Australian gymnastics, Oztag, and schoolgirls sevens. Waiaria Ellis sized up against Jorja Miller who scored a stellar try in the O'Reilly Cup, Black Ferns v Wallaroos match Photo: Kerry Marshall / In just her second year on the rugby pitch, she scored a spot in the NSW Waratahs Super Rugby Women's team at 16. The Waratahs won the Super W championship back-to-back, defeating the Queensland Reds 43-21 this year. "Super W season is one of my favourites. The girls are just really good to be around." With a Wallaroo cap under her belt, Ellis wants to see where her rugby career can take her. "Australia has given me everything, all my opportunities and stuff. So I feel like that's who I should be representing." "But also, if I was in a black jersey, I'd be very proud to be in a black jersey as well - both I'd be very grateful for if I ever had to swap for anything." And the utility back isn't limiting her options. "I definitely would want to give sevens a crack." But for now, Ellis' focus is impressing selectors for the Women's Rugby World Cup in England. "Obviously I do other sports and stuff, but I've just been really concentrating on 15s, just because that's, like, the World Cup is literally the pinnacle of our sport. Everyone wants to achieve that, so that would be pretty amazing." Waiaria Ellis chasing down Portia Woodman-Wickliffe Photo: Masanori Udagawa/Photosport Wallaroos head coach Jo Yapp said in a pre-match statement that the coaching staff are "all really pleased for Waiaria." "She has an excellent skillset and her youthfulness has a great effect on the playing group. We are confident in her ability to take the next step at this level." Australia is hosting Wales in a two-test series on 26 July in Brisbane and 1 August in Sydney in preparations for the Rugby World Cup. A squad of 32 will be selected for the World Cup following the match in Sydney, then will jet off for the UK on 11 August. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
