Pia Tapsell has no qualms about being in the Wallaroos squad, despite growing up in New Zealand and playing Test rugby for Australia’s bitter rivals.<\/p>\n
Tapsell became one of the few women’s international rugby union players to switch allegiances after she named in the Australian squad to face the Black Ferns in Auckland on Saturday.<\/p>\n
It’s the first time the Wallaroos have experienced a player swap from a tier-one nation, although the Wallabies notably had prop Alex Hodgman play for the green and gold in 2024 after switching from the All Blacks.<\/p>\n
World Rugby has strict guidelines for athletes who want to change allegiances, insisting they can’t compete in international rugby for three years, must have a direct birthright link, and can only make the change once.<\/p>\n
Despite Tapsell playing rugby in New Zealand since she was eight years old, the Western Force forward was born in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
“In the past couple of years over in the Force, when everyone found out I was born in Australia, everyone kind of made it a bit of a joke,” Tapsell said.<\/p>\n
“Being approached was definitely not something I was expecting, but obviously being born in Australia it was probably bound to be raised at some point.<\/p>\n
“It (Test rugby) was always something that I really wanted to get back to. I probably never thought I’d have that chance again, so when the opportunity came up, it was not really something you can say no to.”<\/p>\n
Tapsell played six Tests for the Black Ferns between 2019 and 2020, including a 47-10 mauling of the Wallaroos, before a flurry of injuries stalled her momentum.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the 2024 Super W season, the forward signed a contract with the Force and has remained at the West Australian club.<\/p>\n
“My first priority was getting my physical and mental wellbeing right and enjoying playing rugby again, and playing rugby without any expectations … that’s ultimately what allowed me to play more freely and just enjoy myself,” Tapsell said.<\/p>\n
“Lots of people come over to Australia, new opportunities, fresh starts, and that was something that I wanted to allow myself to at least try once.”<\/p>\n
Whether the 28-year-old plays for the Wallaroos depends on if she is selected by the team’s transitional coaching staff, ahead of former Scotland mentor Sione Fukofuka’s arrival in 2027.<\/p>\n
Tapsell wouldn’t be drawn into questions about whether Fukofuka had spoken to the Australians since he sought an early release from Scotland for compassionate reasons, before announcing the surprise move.<\/p>\n
But Tapsell would love the chance to add more spice to the trans-Tasman rivalry, as the Wallaroos look to beat New Zealand for the first time.<\/p>\n
Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pia Tapsell has no qualms about being in the Wallaroos squad, despite growing up in New Zealand and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,428550,428551,760,85,19259],"class_list":["post-858194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-maori-rugby-union-players","tag-pia-tapsell","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-wallaroos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858194","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=858194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}