Charntay Poko (born 10 November 1995) is a New Zealand rugby league and union footballer. Primarily a or , she is a New Zealand representative. She previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and Newcastle Knights 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 ...

Background

Born in Auckland, Poko is of Cook Island descent.

Rugby career

Rugby league

Poko played for the Papanui Tigers in the Canterbury Rugby League competition and represented Canterbury in both rugby league and rugby union. In 2016, she was named in the New Zealand wider squad. In 2019, Poko began playing for the

Richmond Roses Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

. On 22 June 2019, she made her debut for New Zealand, starting at and kicking four goals in a 46–8 win over Samoa. On 10 July 2019, Poko joined the New Zealand Warriors

team. In Round 1 of the

2019 NRL Women's season The 2019 NRL Women's Premiership was the second season of professional women's rugby league in Australia. Teams Pre-season Regular season The season again operated under a round-robin format, with games played as curtain-raisers to the ...

, she made her debut for the Warriors, scoring a try in a 16–12 win over the Sydney Roosters. In October 2019, she was a member of New Zealand's

2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s The 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s was the first staging of the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament and took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium. The tournament featured teams from 12 International Rugby League member ...

-winning squad. On 1 December 2021, Poko signed with the Newcastle Knights to be a part of their inaugural NRLW squad. In round 1 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 ...

, Poko made her club debut for the Knights against the Parramatta Eels. She played in 5 matches for the Knights, before parting ways with the club at the end of the season.

Rugby union

Poko signed with

Matatū Matatū is a New Zealand women's professional rugby union team that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Matatū represents the South Island, specifically the regions covered by the Crusaders and the Highlanders. They are governed ...

in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition for the

2023 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poko, Charntay 1995 births Living people New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand female rugby league players New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's national rugby league team players New Zealand Warriors (NRLW) players Newcastle Knights (NRLW) players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby union players from Auckland