Crystal Kaua (born ) is a New Zealand

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 it ...

coach and former player.

Playing career

Kaua made the Black Ferns sevens and fifteens trial squads, and also played for the Aotearoa Sevens Māori side. She represented

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

and

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

in the

Farah Palmer Cup The Farah Palmer Cup (formerly known as Women's Provincial Championship until 2016), is the highest level domestic women's rugby union competition in New Zealand and is named after the former Black Ferns captain, Farah Palmer. This contest is hel ...

Coaching career

In 2011, Kaua and two of her New Zealand Māori Sevens teammates and Black Ferns,

Victoria Grant Victoria Grant ('' née'' Blackledge; b. 26 August 1982) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. She played for internationally and for Auckland at provincial level. She was recently appointed as Head Coach of Hurricanes Poua. Bi ...

and Teresa Te Tamaki, helped the

University of Waikato , mottoeng = For The People , established = 1964; years ago , endowment = (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020) , chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ , vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley , cit ...

Rugby Club make a comeback. Kaua and her husband, Brent, led Hamilton Girls' High School to three consecutive Condor Sevens national titles, and also world youth titles in Hawaii and Japan up to the end of 2015. They then moved to Japan in 2018 and coached there for about four years. They coached the Mie Pearls sevens and fifteens teams in

Yokkaichi is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 310,259 in 142162 households and a population density of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Yokkaichi is located in north-centra ...

2022

Kaua was an assistant coach to

Allan Bunting Allan Bunting (born 11 February 1975) is a New Zealand rugby union and sevens coach. He previously coached the Black Ferns sevens and was the inaugural head coach of the Chiefs Manawa in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. He was appointed as t ...

Chiefs Manawa The Chiefs Manawa (officially called the Waitomo Chiefs Manawa for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand women's professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Chiefs Manawa won t ...

during their inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki season when they won their maiden title. She was also the Black Ferns Sevens performance analyst and skills coach in 2022. She was the technical advisor for the Bay of Plenty Volcanix in the 2022 Farah Palmer Cup. Kaua headed the Rawata team during the Black Ferns trial in July ahead of the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup. In September, she was appointed as the new head coach of Chiefs Manawa for the 2023 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaua, Crystal 1980s births Living people New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand female rugby union players Rugby union locks