Ruby Tui: Why the best is yet to come

Women’s rugby icon Ruby Tui keeps insisting on a couple of things - she’s only 21, and that rugby is actually called footy.

The reference to her age comes after several months of soul-searching about whether her career as a footy, or rugby, player was over. 

If the New Zealander was actually 21, it would be improbable for her to be calling time on her playing days; at 34, it makes a little more sense. 

Indeed, there is no shame in being in your mid-30s if it means you’ve collected the trophies and accolades Tui has. 

A World Cup winner and Olympic champion, there are few heights the Wellington native has not scaled, but there is still a fire in her belly and new challenges left to take on. 

That includes playing a full club season outside of Aotearoa for the first time, having signed for Trailfinders Women in the JAECOO Premiership Women’s Rugby, already claiming her first trophy on English soil with the JAECOO Next Gen Cup. 

“You spend a long time in footy, you make a lot of friends,” Tui said. “I’ve played for my country for a long time, I don’t want to say how long because obviously I am only 21 years old.

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"But I’ve played for New Zealand for a very long time, and it’s the same people, same system, same structures.  

“I’ve talked to a lot of mentors, big names in the game, who have been there, done that, and they were like, Ruby, some of the best playing years of my life were playing next to the opposition I played against for the last decade; I couldn’t even imagine that.  

“But Trailfinders have got Helen Nelson, Claire Gallagher, Meg Jones, Fran McGhie, I can jam next to them.  

“Some skills in New Zealand we do a bit sharper, but there’s some skills here that we don’t even prioritise.  

“But there is a reason why the Trailfinders have secured the most Black Ferns: there’s Alana Borland, who not only joined the Trailfinders, but she left her New Zealand opportunities as well to come here and commit full-time, and there is absolutely a reason for that.” 

Tui will become the fifth Black Fern to play for Trailfinders and spoke with legendary former teammate Portia Woodman-Wickliffe when making her decision about hanging up the boots. 

Woodman-Wickliffe reversed her international retirement to play in the Women’s Rugby World Cup last year but has since confirmed that her career is done. 

Tui, however, will continue playing for at least another season, with new Trailfinders teammate Meg Jones also partly responsible for her decision.

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And the Ealing club they now both call home have beaten other teams to secure the outside back’s signature. 

Tui added: “One of the things about the PWR that the rest of the world just cannot argue with is the influence of the entire planet, which is just so cool.  

“I love differences coming together, I love diversity. I believe the greatest achievements come from working together, and if you can make the most differences come together, you literally change the world.  

“I love footy in my country, I played it for a long time, and we play a certain style, but being here now, we’ve got the left-footer from Canada [Claire Gallagher], the Scots are teaching me a lot about their country. 

“They are so proud, and they stand so strong in their Scottish culture. I wasn’t really prepared for that, to be honest.  

“It’s just the worldly influence on this competition and on this team in particular is quite special.  

“I think Barney [Maddison, head coach] and Shings [Steven Shingler, attack coach] have picked really cool people. 

“There are like six international captains in one team. Can you imagine the dynamics of that? Cris [Blanco], the captain of Spain, is teaching me Spanish. It’s so cool, every single day, I’m learning.” 

Tui had come into international consciousness as she carved up the Sevens circuit in the late 2010s, helped by a viral BBC interview at the Tokyo Olympics en route to gold. 

Her 15s debut came in the build-up to the home Rugby World Cup, where she became a defining force, as much for her personality as her playing exploits. 

When she grabbed the microphone and addressed Eden Park, having helped New Zealand to a sixth World Cup, it felt like a line-in-the-sand moment for the game and for her. 

But the Black Ferns were unable to match the rise of the beaten finalists in Auckland, with England replacing them as the dominant force in women’s rugby. 

Although Tui has not been part of the New Zealand team since 2025, her love and passion for the Black Ferns still burns as brightly as the famous red streak in her hair. 

“I don’t like that we don’t have the World Cup anymore,” she said. “The black jersey means a lot to me, so from a competitive perspective, I don’t like it, I don’t like how well England have done. 

“But from a bigger-picture perspective and a women’s rugby perspective, it is like wow. 

“It is funny because I kind of saw it happening, I saw the decisions the RFU made towards their 15s women’s programme. I was like, it’s going to be a headache in a few years and then sure enough, they have taken the world by storm.

“The PWR is an amazing place, and that is the other reason I want to come and jam is that it is not just a club comp on the other side of the world, it is a world-leading competition and when you are a competitive person, that is where you want to be.”