Watch the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup live and on-demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nThe 31-year-old was convicted to move from the back row by Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp after initially being spotted playing for the Navy in the ADF Tri service competition.<\/p>\n
It came at a time when the Wallaroos were in desperate need of a front-rower after several injuries, including Bri Hoy\u2019s season-ending ACL injury, with Kavoa throwing herself into the role.<\/p>\n
“At first I was like, ‘no, I\u2019m back row’ because there\u2019s this massive stigma that you\u2019ve gotten slower and you\u2019ve put on weight,\u201d she said to reporters. \u201cI went away and thought about it and she [Jo Yapp] told me, ‘I want to take you to a World Cup, but your opportunity will be in the front row’ so I said ‘OK, when do we start?’<\/p>\n
“Jo [Yapp, head coach] had a really honest conversation with me. I went away and thought, ‘do I really want to do it?’ My dad was like ‘if you\u2019re going to do it, make sure all your eggs are in one basket and give it a decent crack, go all in, because you can\u2019t half-ass it\u2019.”<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a move Kavoa has not regretted since.<\/p>\n
She was rushed into play against Ireland last year despite her previous front-row experience consisting of a ten-minute stint for club side Wests-Norths Owls and has been a consistent member of the squad since<\/p>\n
\u201cI came out of that scrum [in the club game]\u00a0and I was like, ‘Nah, I can’t do this, I can’t do this’.\u00a0Next thing you know, we go on a WXV trial match\u00a0against Ireland in Belfast and they\u2019re like you\u2019re coming off the bench so I was doing something right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really needed that Super season\u00a0at loose head to come into this as a strong competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Kavoa will start for her country on the biggest stage so far for the Australians, facing the world-class English at a sold-out Brighton & Hove Stadium, the home of the Premier League side.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m literally still pinching myself, because one of my key goals was to try and start this World Cup and after last week’s game, I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d play,\u201d she admits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey caught me off guard. It\u2019s a huge honour. I just want to try and be in the moment on Saturday\u2026As an older player I have\u00a0a feeling I won’t be around for too much longer so, one of my things coming into the World Cup is to really be present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kavoa is technically classified as on duty for the Navy during this Rugby World Cup, falling under elite athlete status.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand-born forward has served 11 years with the Navy, set to take a well-deserved long-service leave after the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Kavoa got the chance for both her worlds to combine when she read the Ode at the ANZAC Weekend Round match between the ACT Brumbies and Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo surreal.\u00a0I am extremely grateful to be in the position that I am, being able to still serve and play\u00a0for Australia, especially with the opportunity to recite the Ode,\u201d Kavoa added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a huge achievement for me, and it meant a lot just to be able to do both things and still be like 100% supported by the Navy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI pinch myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallaroos prop and active Navy Seaman Lydia Kavoa is ready to celebrate her first anniversary of playing front-row…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,19259],"class_list":["post-119175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-wallaroos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}