The Star: October 11, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday October 11 2018 41
Sport
Pauaraisa on Kiwi Ferns debut
When the Kiwi Ferns take on the Jillaroos at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday,
they will have a lone Canterbury presence in Sui Pauaraisa. Sports reporter
Gordon Findlater talks to the second-rower about balancing life and sport
SUI PAUARAISA could be the
definition of a real life wonder
woman. She represents two
nations in two different codes,
on top of that she fits in a fulltime
job while also being a
mother of two.
On Saturday, the 31-year-old
is set to make her debut for the
Kiwi Ferns when they play the
Jillaroos at Mt Smart Stadium in
Auckland after being named as
an interchange in coach Kelvin
Wright’s team.
Pauaraisa has represented her
country of birth Samoa in rugby
sevens and is also a member of
the Canterbury’s Farah Palmer
Cup side. In fact she thought she
would be in contention for the
Canterbury team that defeated
Auckland at the weekend
before receiving a phone call
from Wright two weeks ago.
“I think I cried when the
coach called me . . . it made
my day,” said Pauaraisa.
The second rower’s selection
for the Kiwi Ferns
comes on the back of
playing for the Warriors
in the inaugural WNRL
season.
During the campaign
– which saw
the team win one of
their three roundrobin
games –
Pauaraisa was based
in Auckland and
leading into the season
travelled north
two times a week
for training, which
involved starting her
job as an administrator
at
Christchurch Hospital at 6am to
finish in time for an afternoon
flight. She would arrive in Auckland
and go straight to training
before flying home to Christchurch
at 6am the next day to get
to work.
After moving to Auckland
from Samoa at 13, she played
rugby though school before putting
the sport on hold when she
became a mum.
In 2010, she moved to
Christchurch and began playing
rugby for Belfast.
“I only went back to playing
because I knew I was getting
quite big and just wanted something
to
do
to lose some weight . . . it was just
for fun and then it got serious.”
While playing union for Suburbs
four years ago, Pauaraisa’s
teammates introduced her to
league for the first time with the
Halswell Hornets. She’s since
played for the Papanui Tigers
before switching to the Linwood
Keas last year.
“Once I got introduced to
league I’ve absolutely loved it.”
During winter, Pauaraisa plays
union for Christchurch and
league for the Keas. On Tuesday
and Thursday, she trains with
Christchurch. On Wednesday
and Friday, she trains with the
Keas. Saturday is game day for
Christchurch, while on Sunday
she runs out for the Keas leaving
Monday as her one day off sport.
This year she helped both
clubs to win their respective
premier women’s titles.
Since returning from
the Warriors WNRL
campaign, Pauaraisa has
been training with the
Canterbury women’s
rugby union team.
The increased professionalism
in the
women’s 15s game
is something that
is also benefitting
her bid to take
her league game
to another level.
“I think it’s
because of the
culture and
how intense our
trainings are, so
it is a massive
advantage for
me. Even
the
skills we have you can bring into
league.”
The dedication to being in
shape for Saturday’s Kiwi Ferns
test goes beyond even training
four times a week. Most days she
goes for a run around Hagley
Park during her lunch break at
work.
Family is also a big part of her
life. While her recent accomplishments
with the Warriors
WNRL side and now the Kiwi
Ferns means time away from her
two daughters Pine and Paia, she
believes what she is doing is important
for the values she hopes
to pass on.
“We all want our kids to be
successful in life so we’ve got to
things like this because they’re
watching. They watch every step,
I know my girls watch every little
thing.”
“My oldest one [Pine] plays
netball, she says she’s going to
be a Silver Fern and the little
one [Paia] plays league with the
boys at Linwood . . . it’s a good
pathway for her.”
Being able to do what she does
wouldn’t be possible without
her husband Jerry, who has even
DEBUT: Sui Pauaraisa is
set to make her Kiwi Ferns
debut at Mt Smart Stadium
on Saturday.
UNION: Sui
Pauaraisa
tackles
Auckland’s
Naite Faitala-
Mariner at
Rugby Park in
2016. (Left) –
Sui Pauaraisa
with her oldest
daughter Pine,
husband Jerry
and youngest
daughter Paia
before church.
been helping with her individual
training sessions ahead of Saturday’s
test.
“Thank god for him. He cooks
dinner for us and does the
washing and is there to pick me
up from the airport when I was
travelling to Auckland.”
Pauaraisa was brought to
tears when she was able to play
in front of her family during
the Warriors 10-32 loss to the
Broncos last month. She was
surprised by the team’s sponsor
Flight Centre in the week leading
up to the game when she
was informed it was flying her
daughters and husband to their
match in Melbourne.
Although it is New Zealand
she will be representing on Saturday,
she won’t deny that Samoa
has a special place in her heart.
“My heart is always with
Samoa . . . I want to inspire the
girls there because they do have
so much talent in Samoa, but the
support is not really there for the
girls.”
Pauaraisa is hopeful of making
her debut for Samoa’s 15-a-side
team at the Oceania women’s
rugby tournament in Fiji next
month.
Saturday’s test against Australia
is part of a triple-header at Mt
Smart Stadium. The Junior Kiwis
play the Junior Kangaroos at
3pm, followed by the Kiwi Ferns
v Jillaroos at 5pm, and Kiwis v
Kangaroos at 7.45pm.