\u201cI guess if I put myself in that space, that was where I was headed. But rugby opened, not only mine, but my wh\u0101nau\u2019s eyes of a better lifestyle and better opportunities, and actually living life quite happily and healthy. <\/p>\n
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu: “I\u2019m very grateful that my wh\u0101nau have come along with me on that ride.” Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cRugby has done that for me and my wh\u0101nau and I\u2019m very grateful that my wh\u0101nau 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven though obviously the pinnacle events have been major highlights, my highlight is where I\u2019ve got to with playing rugby<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Tangen-Wainohu only began playing the sport at 16 in her penultimate year at Karam\u016b High School in Hastings. <\/p>\n It was an avenue she explored to stay out of the house. <\/p>\n \u201cJust a real overview of my childhood: violence, drugs and alcohol. And I have older siblings and younger siblings \u2013 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,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried to get away from home as much as I possibly could because of the stuff that was going on in our whare. <\/p>\n \u201cBut like I said, rugby not only helped me, but it showed my wh\u0101nau and most of my siblings and my dad, we\u2019re all in so much better space than we were growing up, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n Tangen-Wainohu says \u201crugby was a safe space\u201d which turned into a lifestyle. <\/p>\n In 2017, she made the Hawke\u2019s Bay Farah Palmer Cup squad, before continuing her provincial career with Waikato the following year. <\/p>\n 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<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n Tangen-Wainohu compares her own travel experience to that of her son, Hipirini,<\/a> as one way the game has changed her life. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to travel the world. My son … I didn\u2019t even get on a plane until I was probably like 16, 17 when I made the FPC squad and this guy\u2019s travelling on a plane every second weekend it seems like,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s huge for someone like me and I know there\u2019s a lot of girls and guys, both t\u0101ne and w\u0101hine, that are going through high school that are in tough spaces at home or things like that where sports is a way out. <\/p>\n \u201cFor me, sport was a way out and it helped me in so many ways I can\u2019t even explain.\u201d <\/p>\n While she was able to forge a career in professional rugby, it hasn\u2019t been smooth sailing for the 10-test Black Fern. <\/p>\n Receiving her first fulltime Black Ferns contract in 2023, after winning the World Cup the previous year<\/a>, she was forced to take a hiatus from the game after a neck injury became apparent during a training session. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n Tangen-Wainohu remembers the knock to the top of her head which led to the discovery of two bulges in her neck \u2013 one that had calcified. <\/p>\n \u201cI pretty much went numb from the neck down for about two seconds,\u201d she recalls. <\/p>\n \u201cI went numb and then I got up and told the medical team, said, \u2018hey, this is what happened\u2019, and I thought it was actually a concussion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really complicated. I feel like a lot of people are like, \u2019oh, your neck, you got hurt,\u2019 but there\u2019s actually so much to do with the neck and certain things that happen that it\u2019s really quite a full-on story.\u201d <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n She went on to feature in six tests in 2025, including the bronze-medal match against France, which the Black Ferns won convincingly<\/a>. <\/p>\nAwhina Tangen-Wainohu at a Black Ferns training session with Sarah Hirini. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu made her Farah Palmer Cup debut with Hawke’s Bay in 2017. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Awhina Tangen-Wainohu featured in two World Cup campaigns with the Black Ferns. Photo \/ Smartframe<\/p>\n
The Black Ferns beat France in the 2025 Rugby World Cup bronze-medal match. Photo \/ Smartframe<\/p>\n