{"id":312808,"date":"2025-11-27T19:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T19:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312808\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T19:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T19:54:14","slug":"why-fomo-inspired-roos-to-join-trailfinders-for-pwr-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312808\/","title":{"rendered":"Why ‘FOMO’ inspired Roos to join Trailfinders for PWR campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If Burna Boy is planning another cameo in English women\u2019s sport before March, Maiakawanakaulani Roos<\/a> hopes it\u2019s in West London.<\/p>\n

The Black Ferns<\/a> lock, a fan of the Nigerian star who was a part of the Lionesses\u2019 Euros celebrations in July, has signed a four-month deal with Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby<\/a> side Trailfinders<\/a> Women, giving her the chance to explore England<\/a> both on the field and through its live music options.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old confesses she and New Zealand<\/a> teammate Liana Mikaele-Tu\u2019u<\/a>, who has recently signed for Harlequins<\/a>, are huge music fans and want to take advantage of what is on offer in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of people [artists] seem to come to London,\u201d Roos, who won the Rugby World Cup<\/a> in 2022, said. \u201cLi and I love music. Abi Burton<\/a> told me to download a few apps so I am having a nosey on there. Did Burna Boy already come? We can see who else comes but if someone comes I will be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roos is one of several Black Ferns stars to sign in PWR<\/a> this season, a few other examples being Layla Sae<\/a> at Quins and Ruahei Demant<\/a> at Bristol Bears<\/a>. Part of the reason Roos wanted to make the short-term move to England was so she did not miss out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got FOMO,\u201d Roos said. \u201cI saw quite a few of the Kiwi girls over here playing rugby and I wanted to play rugby. Trailfinders, they picked up the call for me. It\u2019s a great location, I love the style of play. They play quite similarly to New Zealand, the mindset to play on top, to play attacking footy and to keep the ball in hand. I thought that was pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the likes of Abi Burton<\/a> and Meg Jones<\/a> here, they are a couple of people I would love to learn from and play alongside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roos\u2019 first game may come against Saracens<\/a> on Saturday, where Trailfinders hope to claim their third win of the season. The London club are currently fourth in the league table and Roos\u2019 addition to Barney Maddison\u2019s squad will only boost their semi-final ambition.<\/p>\n

Roos has experience of playing rugby on English shores after representing New Zealand in the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> earlier this year. The Black Ferns lost their first World Cup match since 2014 against Canada<\/a> in the semi-final which Roos says was a \u201chard pill to swallow\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s rugby, it\u2019s the game we play,\u201d she added. \u201cSomeone has to win and someone has to lose. We got really close over the next week, we had to really bind up together, stay strong so we could go hard again one last time. We didn\u2019t know where everyone was going after the last game so we wanted to make the most of the time that we had together.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand did take something from the tournament though as they beat France<\/a> to claim a bronze medal. Around 60,000 people were in the stands at Allianz Stadium to watch the bronze final and the volume of support was special for Roos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked out of the window of the bus and it was flooded with people,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was really surreal. I don\u2019t usually get emotional before games but I felt quite emotional to see such a turn out, especially when we weren\u2019t expecting anyone to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the impact of the depth and breadth of the occasion we were playing. It was so cool, so special and I felt so grateful in that moment. I think that\u2019s a feeling I will hold for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only is Roos a role model with her skill and precision on the pitch but also for what she advocates off of it. She posts on social media about mental health and the importance of knowing it\u2019s okay not to be okay.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a young person I experienced quite a bit of loss in our community and at school,\u201d Roos explained. \u201cMental health was quite taboo, especially from the older generations. So that impacted lots of people my age. I really think it is important to remove that stigma, especially in team environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby was my safe space and so I hope other young girls and boys find it as a safe space for them. I just want everyone to know it is important to talk about things and if something is bugging you, you have someone to listen to you and what you feel is valid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not weak to ask for help, it\u2019s actually really courageous and it is something we can all get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of being a role model to the next generation of players is something Roos feels the weight of.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of scary in a way,\u201d she said. \u201cI have never seen myself as a role model but when I think back to when I was younger and Black Ferns used to come and visit my school, I didn\u2019t care if they had one cap or 50 caps but their presence and the pride in the black jersey that you could see them hold, that was enough to be inspired. I think I hold that now. It is a privilege and I hope to do it justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roos is already doing the black jersey justice and will look to do the same in a Trailfinders shirt. She is relishing the challenge the PWR has set and the separate task of tracking down Burna Boy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Burna Boy is planning another cameo in English women\u2019s sport before March, Maiakawanakaulani Roos hopes it\u2019s in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-312808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312808","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=312808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}