{"id":622718,"date":"2026-04-22T03:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622718\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:22:16","slug":"monk-fua-called-into-wallaroos-squad-for-oreilly-cup-opener-after-smith-pohiva-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622718\/","title":{"rendered":"Monk, Fua called into Wallaroos squad for O&#8217;Reilly Cup opener after Smith, Pohiva injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Wallaroos have been forced into two changes to the squad, with Ngamihi Monk and Martha Fua called in ahead of Saturday&#8217;s ANZAC Day clash with the Black Ferns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">It follows injuries to Faliki Pohiva (foot) and Cecilia Smith (hamstring), picked up during their trip to the USA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stan.com.au\/watch\/sport\/rugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">Watch every second of the 2026 Wallaroos season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Pohiva came off the bench against the Americans last week but succumbed to injury with nine minutes to go.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The NSW Waratahs prop made her Wallaroos debut last year, debuting against Fijiana and featuring at the 2025 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">As for Smith, she didn&#8217;t play against the Americans, ruled out after finishing the game in the midfield against Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The midfielder has been a key cog of the Wallaroos midfield during the 2020s, claiming player of the match in their World Cup opener against Samoa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Queenslander Ava Wereta replaces Smith last week on her debut, one of several options on the bench or in the midfield alongside Monk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Wereta was one of three debutants last week, including Ella Ryan, who can also cover the midfield, and Dillyn Blackburn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Monk comes into the program looking to become the latest debutant after signing as part of the contracted squad earlier in the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Wallaroos have settled into the Sunshine Coast ahead of the ANZAC Day clash with the Black Ferns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">It&#8217;s the first time the two sides will face off on the special day, with the Kiwis out to maintian an unbeaten record against the Wallaroos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wallaroos have been forced into two changes to the squad, with Ngamihi Monk and Martha Fua called&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,19259],"class_list":{"0":"post-622718","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","12":"tag-wallaroos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622718","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=622718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}