Theresa Matauaina Fitzpatrick (born 25 February 1995) 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 was a member of the Black Ferns champion

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

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, ...

squads. She has also represented New Zealand in rugby sevens; she won gold medals at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo and at the 2018

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and Rugby World Cup Sevens. She played for the

Blues Women The Blues Women's team (known as the Nib Health Funds, nib Blues Women for sponsorship reasons) is a New Zealand professional women's rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. History ...

in the

2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season The 2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season is the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki. The competition commenced on 10 March between Chiefs Manawa and Matatū. On 20 March, Chiefs Manawa were crowned as the inaugural champions of Super Rugby Aupiki a ...

Rugby career

2016

Fitzpatrick represents

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 ...

in rugby sevens. She made her sevens debut at the

2016 USA Women's Sevens The 2016 USA Sevens was the third tournament within the 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. It was held over the weekend of 8–9 April 2016 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, Georgia. Australia won the tournam ...

. She was named in the sevens squad for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

2017–2021

Fitzpatrick 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 and was part of the winning team of the

2019 Women's Rugby Super Series The 2019 Women's Rugby Super Series was the third series of the Women's Rugby Super Series, a women's international rugby union competition featuring the best-ranked sides. Unlike the previous editions of the Super Series in 2015 and 2016 which ...

. On 3 November 2021, She was named in the Blues squad for the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki competition.

2022

Fitzpatrick was named in the Blues starting line up for their first game against

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 ...

, they won 21–10. She also started in their 0–35 thrashing by the Chiefs Manawa in the final round. Fitzpatrick was named in the

Black Ferns Sevens The New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team represents New Zealand in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. The team has participated in all rounds of the World Rugby Wom ...

squad for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. She won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. In August 2022, she was selected in Black Ferns XV's team for the test series 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 ...

for the Laurie O'Reilly Cup. She made the Black Ferns 32-player squad for the delayed

. She scored a try in the second pool game against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Her second try came in the final pool game against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Fitzpatrick also scored a try in the Black Ferns nail-biting semifinal clash with

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 ...

as they fought their way into the final.

Personal life

Fitzpatrick undertakes medical studies at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. Her older sister,

Sulu Fitzpatrick Sulu Fitzpatrick (born 20 August 1992), also known as Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick, is a New Zealand netball and rugby sevens player. She plays for the Northern Mystics in the ANZ Championships. She can play the Goal Keeper, Goal Defence, and Wing Def ...

is a New Zealand netball international. The Fitzpatrick sisters both represented

New Zealand at the 2022 Commonwealth Games New Zealand competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England, from 28 July to 8 August 2022. It is New Zealand's 22nd appearance at the Commonwealth Games, having competed at every Games since their inception in 1930. New Zeala ...

References

External links

Black Ferns Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Theresa 1995 births Living people New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's international rugby union players New Zealand female rugby sevens players New Zealand women's international rugby sevens players New Zealand Māori rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for New Zealand Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand 21st-century New Zealand women 21st-century New Zealand people Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Umaga family Rugby union centres