Fiao'o Fa'amausili (born 30 September 1980) is a former

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 ...

female rugby union player. She played for and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. She made her

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournamen ...

debut on 18 May, 2002 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. She was a member of the winning Black Ferns squad for the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limite ...

. She has been to five World Cups beginning from 2002–2017.

Early life

Fa'amausili was born in Sāmoa, she moved with her family to New Zealand when she was five. Her mother is from

Fogapoa Fogapoa is a village on the north east coast of Savai'i island in Samoa. The village is part of the electoral constituency (''Faipule District'') Fa'asaleleaga 3 which is within the larger political district (''Itumalo'') of Fa'asaleleaga. The po ...

in Savai’i and her father is from the villages of Faleula and Aleisa in

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

. She visits Samoa every year. She is a police detective in south Auckland.

Career

Faamausili has won four Women’s Rugby World Cup titles and captained the Black Ferns between 2012 and 2018. She has played over 100 games for

and won several provincial titles. Fa'amausili was named as captain of the

for the inaugural

2015 Women's Rugby Super Series The inaugural 2015 Women's Rugby Super Series was an international women's rugby union competition contested by 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup, World Cup holders England women's national rugby union team, England, runners-up Canada women's national ...

held in Canada. She was named in the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dubl ...

squad. In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Fa'amausili was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to rugby. In 2019, Fa'amausili was on the voting panel for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award. She was one of 31 Black Ferns who were capped at the Black Ferns capping ceremony in Auckland at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

. She received two caps, one was for her debut and another one for 50 Test matches. She is the first Black Fern to reach the 50-game milestone. She was elected as the

Auckland Rugby Union The Auckland Rugby Union is a New Zealand provincial rugby union. The union was established in 1883 and was originally responsible for the administration of the sport in most of the former Auckland Province, although its boundaries have since ...

's first female President in 2021.

World Rugby Hall of Fame Induction

Fa'amausili was inducted into the

World Rugby Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other ...

in a special ceremony during the

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

semi-finals at Eden Park on 5 November 2022.

References

External links

Black Ferns Profile
1980 births Living people New Zealand women's international rugby union players New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand police officers Rugby union hookers Auckland rugby union players Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1980s-stub