Lorina Papali'i

Lorina Papali'i (née Buckley; born 16 January 1977) is a former New Zealand rugby league and rugby union footballer from the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

Lorina Papali'i

Personal information
Full name	Lorina Cecilia Papali'i[1]
Born	(1977-01-16) 16 January 1977 (age 47) Hamilton, New Zealand
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	78 kg (12 st 4 lb)
Playing information
Rugby league
Position	Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2018 New Zealand Warriors 3 0 0 0 0 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1994–05 New Zealand 9 1 0 0 0
Rugby union
Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2002–06 Samoa 3
Source: RLP As of 9 November 2020

A dual international, she represented New Zealand in rugby league and Samoa in rugby union.

Background

Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, Papali'i went to school in Newcastle, Australia before returning to New Zealand.^[2] Her son, Isaiah, is a New Zealand and Samoan rugby league international.^[3]

Playing career

Rugby league

In 1994, Papali'i made her Test debut for New Zealand while playing for the Richmond Rovers.^[4] She was later a member of New Zealand's successful 2000 and 2003 Women's Rugby League World Cup squads.

Papali'i enjoyed a long career with Richmond, winning the club's Player of the Year award four times (1996, 1997, 2001, 2002) and Forward of the Year award three times (1994, 1995, 2003). In 2002, she won the New Zealand Women's Nationals Player of the Tournament and in 2004 won the NZRL Player of the Year.^[1] In 2010, she retired from rugby.^[3]

On 1 August 2018, Papali'i came out of retirement and was named in the New Zealand Warriors NRL Women's Premiership squad.^[5]

In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Warriors in a 10–4 win over the Sydney Roosters. In doing so, Papali'i and her son Isaiah (who played for the Warriors' men's team) became the first mother and son to play for the same club.^[6]

Rugby union

In 2002 and 2006, Papali'i represented Samoa at the Rugby World Cup.^[7]

References

1. "Lorina Papali'i". Richmond Rovers.
2. "Women of the Islands - Lorina Papali'i". The Coconet.
3. "Lorina Papali'i: "It's still quite unreal to me"". The Women's Game. 3 August 2018.
4. "Papalii proud to join son in Warriors colours". stuff.co.nz. 1 August 2018.
5. "Vodafone Warriors unveil NRL women's premiership squad". NZ Warriors. 1 August 2018.
6. "Club's first women's team named". NZ Warriors. 5 September 2018.
7. "Lorina Papali'i creates NRL history with son Isaiah". TVNZ. 31 July 2018.

External links

• Richmond Rovers profile