Grace Gago (born 5 May 1998) 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 its m ...

player. She plays for the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in the

Super Rugby Aupiki Super Rugby Aupiki is a professional women's rugby union club competition in New Zealand. Its inaugural season was held in March 2022. It is a steppingstone between the Farah Palmer Cup and the Black Ferns. Aupiki translates as ‘''the ascent to ...

competition and for Counties Manukau 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 ...

Early career

Gago was attending

Manurewa High School , motto_translation = Rise to the Heavens , type = State co-ed secondary (year 9–13) , established = 1960 , address = 67 Browns RoadManurewaAuckland 2102New Zealand , coordinates = , principal = Pete Jones , roll = ...

when she was named Counties Manukau Rugby's under-18 girls' Player of the Year at the Junior Rugby Awards that was held in

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...

in 2016. Besides playing for the Counties Manukau under-18s team, she also played for the Manurewa Wahine rugby league team and the Samoan under-18 tag team. She also represented her school in

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

and was also part of their football and first XVs team.

Rugby career

In 2022, At the Counties Manukau Rugby awards Gago won the Players’ Player of the Year, Forward of the Year, and

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the Year awards. She made her

debut for the

in 2023 in their first round loss to Matatū, despite scoring her sides first try, they narrowly lost 31–33. Gago was named among 34 contracted players for the

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 ...

in 2023 as they build toward the 2025 Rugby World Cup, it is her first fulltime contract. She was named in the

30-player squad in June to compete in the

Pacific Four Series The Pacific Four Series is an international rugby union competition that is sanctioned by World Rugby. It is contested between four women's national teams — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It began in 2021 and was initiall ...

and O’Reilly Cup. She started in her international debut against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 14 July 2023, at

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

References

External links

Blues Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gago, Grace 1998 births Living people New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's international rugby union players