April Ngatupuna (born 20 April 2003) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who currently plays for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the

NRL Women's Premiership The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for women's rugby league in Australia, female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the ...

. A or , she previously played for the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

and for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

Super W The Super W is a women's rugby union competition held in Australia. The inaugural season was in 2018, when it replaced the former National Women's Rugby Championship. The are the most successful team so far, . Teams Six women's rugby teams c ...

Background

Ngatupuna was born in

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

and is of

Cook Islander Cook Islanders are residents of the Cook Islands, which is composed of 15 islands and atolls in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Cook Islands Māori are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Cook Is ...

and Samoan descent. In Porirua, she played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for the Northern United Rugby Club and attended

Porirua College Cannons Creek is a suburb of Porirua City approximately 22km north of Wellington in New Zealand. Demographics Cannons Creek, comprising the statistical areas of Cannons Creek North, Cannons Creek East and Cannons Creek South, covers . It had an ...

before moving to

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. In Brisbane, Ngatupuna attended

Marsden State High School Marsden State High School (MSHS) is a secondary school in Waterford West, Queensland for students between years 7 and 12. Marsden State High School is located on the corner of Chambers Flat Road and Muchow Road between the suburbs of Marsden and ...

and played junior rugby league for the

Wests Panthers The Western Suburbs Panthers, often simply referred to as Wests for short, are a rugby league club based in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The club is the oldest in the QRL and despite absences from the top grade in rec ...

Playing career

Early career

In 2021, Ngatupuna played for the Panthers in the QRL under-19 competition and for Valkyries in the

QRL Women's Premiership The QRL Women's Premiership, known as the BMD Premiership due to sponsorship from BMD Group, is the top level of women's rugby league football in Queensland, Australia. Run by the Queensland Rugby League, the competition is Queensland's first s ...

. In June 2021, she represented Queensland under-19. In June 2021, Ngatupuna made her

debut for the

in Round 1 of the

2021 Super W season The 2021 Super W season had a different format to previous seasons. With the inclusion of the President's XV, teams were split into two pools of three. This format however was only for the 2021 season. The competition will revert to the usual home ...

in a 47-26 loss vs the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state ...

. In August 2021, she signed with the

2022

In Round 2 of the delayed

2021 NRL Women's season The 2021 NRLW premiership was the fourth professional season of Women's rugby league in Australia. The season was planned to start in August 2021, postponed to October 2021 and further postponed to 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Th ...

, Ngatupuna made her NRLW debut against the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

. Following the NRLW season, Ngatupuna played for the North Queensland Gold Stars in the QRL Women's Premiership, starting at prop in their Grand Final win over the

Central Queensland Capras Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They currently play in the Queensland Cup, the premier rugby league competition in Quee ...

. In June, she represented Queensland under-19 for the second time. Ngatupuna returned to the Titans for the

2022 NRL Women's season The 2022 NRLW Premiership was the fifth professional season of Women's rugby league in Australia. The season started on Saturday, 20 August and ran for seven weekends. This comprised five rounds, semi-finals for the top four teams, and a Grand ...

, playing just one game. In November, Ngatupuna represented the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

at the Women's World Cup, playing three games and scoring a try in their 26–18 win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

2023

Ngatupuna began the 2023 season playing for the

Souths Logan Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

in the

. On 10 May, she signed a two-year contract with the

. In Round 1 of the 2023 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Cowboys, coming off the bench in a 16–6 loss to the

. In Round 3, she scored her first NRLW try in a 40–12 loss to the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

References

External links

North Queensland Cowboys profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngatupuna, April 2003 births Living people Cook Islands women's national rugby league team players Gold Coast Titans (NRLW) players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand people of Cook Island descent New Zealand female rugby league players New Zealand female rugby union players North Queensland Cowboys (NRLW) players People educated at Porirua College Rugby league players from Wellington Region Rugby league props Rugby union players from the Wellington Region