Ruahei Demant will become just the third Black Fern to play 50 games when she runs out for her side\u2019s Rugby World Cup semi-final against Canada in Bristol on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a huge milestone which will see her join Kendra Cocksedge (68) and Fiao\u2019o Fa\u2019amausili (57) in the exclusive club.<\/p>\n
Demant made her Black Ferns debut in 2018 against Australia and is a proud product of College Rifles\u00a0Rugby\u00a0Club and the Auckland Storm. <\/p>\n
In 2022, she was named Black Ferns captain for the Pacific Four Series, leading the team to Rugby World Cup glory later that year.<\/p>\n
Black\u00a0Ferns\u00a0Director\u00a0of\u00a0Performance\u00a0Allan\u00a0Bunting\u00a0paid\u00a0tribute\u00a0to\u00a0Demant\u2019s\u00a0leadership\u00a0and\u00a0attributes\u00a0she\u00a0brings\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0
team.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuahei\u00a0embodies\u00a0mana\u00a0and\u00a0everything that a Black Fern should be through her\u00a0authenticity.\u00a0She has a calm\u00a0but strong\u00a0presence on the field,\u00a0when\u00a0Ruahei\u00a0speaks\u00a0she has\u00a0powerful\u00a0influence,\u00a0her words\u00a0and conviction\u00a0connects\u00a0our circle in\u00a0a special\u00a0way,\u201d Bunting said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe leads by example and\u00a0empowers others around her. She is the\u00a0poutokomanawa, heart\u00a0and soul\u00a0of the team. For\u00a0Ruahei\u00a0to run out this weekend alongside\u00a0Ayesha playing her 30th\u00a0Test\u00a0will be special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruahei first pulled on a Blues jersey in 2021, and has since been a steady presence. Calm under pressure, fiercely competitive, and willing to play wherever the team needs her. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s been through more than her share of setbacks, particularly with injuries, but every time she\u2019s fought her way back.<\/p>\n
The Black Ferns kick off at 6am this Saturday 20 September (NZT) in their semi final against Canada, with live coverage on Sky Sport 1 from 5am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ruahei Demant will become just the third Black Fern to play 50 games when she runs out for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-150808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150808","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=150808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}