“I guess if I put myself in that space, that was where I was headed. But rugby opened, not only mine, but my whānau’s eyes of a better lifestyle and better opportunities, and actually living life quite happily and healthy.
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu: “I’m very grateful that my whānau have come along with me on that ride.” Photo / Photosport
“Rugby has done that for me and my whānau and I’m very grateful that my whānau have come along with me on that ride because, same thing, my siblings could have easily been down a different route of life and same as my dad.
“Even though obviously the pinnacle events have been major highlights, my highlight is where I’ve got to with playing rugby.”
Tangen-Wainohu only began playing the sport at 16 in her penultimate year at Karamū High School in Hastings.
It was an avenue she explored to stay out of the house.
“Just a real overview of my childhood: violence, drugs and alcohol. And I have older siblings and younger siblings – and my older siblings were the same: we just played every sport that was available, pretty much just to try and have probably a training every evening and then playing on a Saturday,” she says.
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu at a Black Ferns training session with Sarah Hirini. Photo / Photosport
“I tried to get away from home as much as I possibly could because of the stuff that was going on in our whare.
“But like I said, rugby not only helped me, but it showed my whānau and most of my siblings and my dad, we’re all in so much better space than we were growing up, that’s for sure.”
Tangen-Wainohu says “rugby was a safe space” which turned into a lifestyle.
In 2017, she made the Hawke’s Bay Farah Palmer Cup squad, before continuing her provincial career with Waikato the following year.
An emerging talent in the front row, she made her debut for the Black Ferns in 2022 under the watchful eye of Sir Wayne Smith, after a Super Rugby Aupiki-winning run with Chiefs Manawa, and was named in the World Cup squad tasked with, and successfully, defending the title on home soil later that year.
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu made her Farah Palmer Cup debut with Hawke’s Bay in 2017. Photo / NZME
Tangen-Wainohu compares her own travel experience to that of her son, Hipirini, as one way the game has changed her life.
“We’ve been able to travel the world. My son … I didn’t even get on a plane until I was probably like 16, 17 when I made the FPC squad and this guy’s travelling on a plane every second weekend it seems like,” she says.
“I think it’s huge for someone like me and I know there’s a lot of girls and guys, both tāne and wāhine, that are going through high school that are in tough spaces at home or things like that where sports is a way out.
“For me, sport was a way out and it helped me in so many ways I can’t even explain.”
While she was able to forge a career in professional rugby, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the 10-test Black Fern.
Receiving her first fulltime Black Ferns contract in 2023, after winning the World Cup the previous year, she was forced to take a hiatus from the game after a neck injury became apparent during a training session.
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu featured in two World Cup campaigns with the Black Ferns. Photo / Smartframe
It was an issue that she believes was caused by loading on her neck, and the only activity she participated in which might have affected that area of her body was rugby.
Tangen-Wainohu remembers the knock to the top of her head which led to the discovery of two bulges in her neck – one that had calcified.
“I pretty much went numb from the neck down for about two seconds,” she recalls.
“I went numb and then I got up and told the medical team, said, ‘hey, this is what happened’, and I thought it was actually a concussion.
“The hit on the top of the head, I guess compressed the spinal cord to lose the sensation in my body for that split couple of seconds and then it pretty much bounced back.
“It’s really complicated. I feel like a lot of people are like, ’oh, your neck, you got hurt,’ but there’s actually so much to do with the neck and certain things that happen that it’s really quite a full-on story.”
After two years out of the game, during which she had surgery on the bulging discs on her spinal cord, Tangen-Wainohu returned for the Blues in Super Rugby Aupiki in 2025 and was a consistent contributor in their title-winning campaign.
She had played her way back into the test conversation, and made her first appearance for the Black Ferns since 2022 off the bench in a 38-12 win over Australia in early May.
She went on to feature in six tests in 2025, including the bronze-medal match against France, which the Black Ferns won convincingly.
The Black Ferns beat France in the 2025 Rugby World Cup bronze-medal match. Photo / Smartframe
She was set to continue with the Black Ferns this year in the Pacific Four Series, a shift in the international calendar meaning the series took part before Super Rugby Aupiki.
However, Tangen-Wainohu aggravated her neck injury in a training session ahead of the series opener against the United States in Sacramento, and ultimately returned home early for further assessment.
When scans revealed another bulge had appeared, she knew what it meant for her career.
“The medical professionals, two separate specialists, looked at my scans and said that the risk is just too high on what could be next. Obviously, there’s no way for me to jump on the field and put a bit of strapping tape around the neck to help avoid getting injured,” she says.
“This time around, my scans just weren’t looking very good and the risk was just way too high on what could happen and what could happen is the possibility of being paralysed, which obviously my life is much more important than another rugby game, that’s for sure, just to end up getting paralysed from playing.”
She says being close to retirement from her first neck issue taught her a lot about that area of her body and it was easier to accept the end of her rugby career this time around.
“Probably two, three years ago, I’d be like, ‘are you sure there’s no way to get back and playing rugby? Are you sure there’s not this way or that way or five different ways that I could possibly return?’, because rugby was my life.
“I learnt a lot over those last two to three years where, when I saw it, even though I’m no medical specialist, I could already tell by the scan, because of how much I know around the neck now, that it wasn’t going to be good, before they even had told me that I would probably have to retire.”
Tangen-Wainohu was set to play for Chiefs Manawa in the upcoming Super Rugby Aupiki season and will remain involved with the team in a mentorship role.
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu won the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki title in 2022 with Chiefs Manawa. Photo / Photosport
She says it’s important for front-rowers in the current game to properly understand their core roles and how to go about limiting the impact on their bodies, particularly with a busy schedule at the top level in 2026.
“We’re going up to nearly 20 matches a year of high-level rugby. When I think of a prop in that space, I think of how much load we’re doing, so the technicality of knowing what you need to do and where you need to put your head is really crucial,” she says.
“That’s probably the base of it is, as a prop, you need to technically know what you’re up to in the scrum and then how much load you’re doing throughout each training as well because, like me, it was over a space of time where load became a lot that my neck … I guess, in those early years where I wasn’t professional, [it] probably wasn’t managed well.
“Now we’re lucky we have, in the professional space of Aupiki and Black Ferns, medical teams, sports S&Cs that are trying to manage that load because I think that the men, compared to the women’s bodies, are hugely different and that it’ll be interesting to see how we are able to manage that as props, because of how much rugby we’re playing throughout the year.”
While her time in the game was cut short, Tangen-Wainohu was thankful for the opportunities she earned.
Looking back at her achievements, she says she would love to have the opportunity to show people who have had a similar upbringing that sports can be a way out.
“I think overall it’s probably taking every opportunity that you can get because there’s so many spaces now that kids can say ‘yes’ to that can actually help change their lifestyle around and there’s so many good people out there,” she says.
Black Fern Awhina Tangen-Wainohu takes a photo with young fans after the side’s win over South Africa in the 2025 Rugby World Cup quarterfinals. Photo / Smartframe
“I give real big praise to my high school teacher because I didn’t have rides to training and he was my ride. Then from there, there was a couple of older ladies in my rugby team, same thing, would pick me up and drop me off, otherwise I probably couldn’t have played rugby because I couldn’t get to training.
“More people that do that with the genuine love and care for helping people, and that’s voluntarily, you know, like they’re not doing it for any money or praise, it’s just pure love and genuine care for other people and I think sometimes it doesn’t come as often as it used to these days because there’s always a ‘can I have? Can I have?’, instead of what you can give.
“If I can, and get the opportunity to help, and I do, as much as I have the time and effort to be able to give, I will. At the moment, I’m in a space of doing that with the Chiefs Manawa, just being an ear to listen or a person to pass the ball and to share my knowledge and experience, not only with my injury, but just in rugby in general.
“I think I would, when I get the opportunity, I’ll definitely say ‘yes’.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.