{"id":551366,"date":"2026-03-19T21:27:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/551366\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T21:27:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:27:17","slug":"rugby-star-maddison-davisons-inspiring-comeback-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/551366\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby star Maddison Davison\u2019s inspiring comeback story"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Maddison Davison first played rugby, she wouldn\u2019t fend off her opponents or wrap them in a tackle, terrified that her arms might snap. Her fear wasn\u2019t imagined. As a three-year-old in Taranaki, Maddi was playing with her siblings on a gate that was used to move cows into the milking shed. Both of her arms became trapped beneath the wheels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a train going over a track,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Her left arm was almost completely severed and it was only the quick thinking of her older brother Carlin \u2013 six at the time \u2013 that freed her. Emergency surgery saved both arms, but the trauma lingered for years.<\/p>\n

Maddi recalls, \u201cWhen I was worried my stitches would come out if I tackled someone, I\u2019d think, \u2018Oh, wait, they\u2019re on the inside.\u2019 Once I got over that mental barrier, I was into the game more. But it was pretty traumatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now 20, Maddi plays in the Taranaki women\u2019s club competition and stars in No Tears On The Field, a raw, heartfelt film following female rugby<\/a> players through a season. Made by director Lisa Burd, it shows players in the heartland juggling family, work and sport \u2013 something Maddi knows well. She lives on a dairy farm in Stratford with her parents, helping her dad Justin milk 210 cows, and tend to a few sheep and pigs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A father\u2019s unwavering support<\/p>\n

Her bond with her father runs deep. He\u2019s coached Maddi through most of her rugby career, understanding what she\u2019s had to overcome.<\/p>\n

says, \u201cI had real bad nightmares until I was 15, flashbacks of the accident, which I\u2019ve grown out of now I\u2019ve learnt to live with what happened. But still sometimes I think, \u2018What if my brother hadn\u2019t been there to pull my arms out or the surgeon hadn\u2019t been able to sew them back on?\u2019 My life would have been real different.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sporting dynasty<\/p>\n

Nothing would have stopped Maddi becoming an athlete, though. Growing up in a sports-mad family, the three Davison siblings would get into \u201cbackyard rumbles\u201d after school to burn off energy. Her father coached all three from their first steps on the field, right through to 2024, when he led Maddi\u2019s Clifton women\u2019s side to a club title.<\/p>\n

Her siblings are also sporting high-achievers. Elder sister Tiana plays league for the Kiwi Ferns and is a double NRLW champion, currently with the Newcastle Knights, while Carlin\u2019s made his name in basketball, representing the Tall Blacks and the Breakers.<\/p>\n

Maddi says she\u2019s a little disappointed she couldn\u2019t convince her dad to keep coaching. <\/p>\n

She tells, \u201cI think he\u2019s happy puttering around on the farm and just coming to watch me play. He coached us kids for about 24 seasons, so he probably deserves a break.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Living with the scars<\/p>\n

The accident left lasting reminders. Maddi sometimes experiences pins and needles, and stiffening from her scars. She\u2019s broken both wrists and her pinky fingers too. The worst of the scarring is now covered by a t\u0101moko that envelops her forearm. Its design echoes the tattooed pattern across her father\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt a little insecure about my scars and got sick of being asked what happened,\u201d she admits. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d tell people I\u2019d been bitten by a shark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Built on resilience<\/p>\n

Resilience is Maddi\u2019s trademark. She returned to rugby after knee reconstruction surgery, which sidelined her for more than a year. Although she\u2019s a reluctant film star, she sees the doco\u2019s importance for the growth of the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows a different side to rugby,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s usually only the men\u2019s game you see. Now younger girls can see we\u2019re building something for them when they\u2019re older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switching sides<\/p>\n

During filming, Maddi played for Clifton, but she\u2019s switched to arch-rival club Southern.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny because at the beginning of the film, you see me and my teammates Mereana [Anderson] and Phoenix [Fraser] wearing the same colours, but by the end, we\u2019re all in different teams. But we\u2019re still great mates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A new season begins<\/p>\n

The Taranaki women\u2019s rugby club season kicks off next month and Maddi\u2019s been training since January. She has new motivation \u2013 moving from the back of the scrum to the front row.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m more involved in the game, getting into the rucks as a prop,\u201d she tells. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith new coaches, I\u2019ve had to go out and prove my worth, and I\u2019ve been rewarded with a starting position every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chasing milestones<\/p>\n

Her short-term goal is to reach the milestone of 25 games for Southern. From there, she hopes to progress to the Taranaki Whio senior side and eventually compete in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Her big dream is to play for the Black Ferns \u2013 wearing the silver fern like her sister and brother. <\/p>\n

Maddi enthuses, \u201cIt\u2019d take a big push, but if that\u2019s what it takes, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Tears On The Field<\/a> opens in cinemas on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAuthor
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSuzanne McFadden\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Suzanne McFadden is a regular contributing writer for Woman’s Day, having written for magazines for much of her 40-year career as a journalist. After growing up on a farm in Wellsford, she realised her dream to become a sports reporter at the New Zealand Herald in 1990, a job that would take her around the globe. After raising two sons, she founded LockerRoom, a site dedicated to women in sport, and in 2025, she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sports journalism and women. She’s authored two books, Striking Gold and Honey, and\u00a0is passionate about telling stories about people. Away from the keyboard, Suze thrives on being nanna to her two energetic grandsons and living her best life with her writer husband Eugene Bingham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Maddison Davison first played rugby, she wouldn\u2019t fend off her opponents or wrap them in a tackle,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,272716,1691,272717,40040,272718,272719,760,85,272720,10674],"class_list":["post-551366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-breakers","tag-documentary","tag-female-rugby","tag-kiwi-ferns","tag-maddison-davison","tag-no-tears-on-the-field","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-tall-ferns","tag-taranaki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551366","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=551366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}