Portia Woodman-Wickliffe is a try-scoring machine and one of the biggest names in women’s rugby ahead of the 2025 Women's World Cup. Nick Heath reports
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe will play for the New Zealand Black Ferns at the 2025 Rugby World Cup, her third tournament in 15s.
Considered one of the greats of the women’s game, Woodman-Wickliffe will be hoping to keep the streak going and guide the Black Ferns to their third consecutive World title.
One of the great try scorers across 15s and 7s, the 34-year-old will undoubtably set another World Cup cup alight in England.
And as she does, here are ten things you need to know about the Black Ferns flyer…
Read more: How to watch the Women’s World Cup wherever you are in the world
Ten things you should know about Portia Woodman-Wickliffe
1. Portia Woodman was born on 12 July 1991 in Kawakawa, north of Whangarei on New Zealand’s north island.
2. Woodman comes from a family with great sporting pedigree. Her father Kawhena and uncle Fred are both former All Blacks and her aunt Te Aroha is a former netballer with the Silver Ferns.
3. When she was little, Woodman dreamt of becoming an Olympic sprinter.
4. Having switched to sevens from netball aged 21, she played five tournaments before becoming top scorer at the 2013 Sevens World Cup. She scored 12 tries to help New Zealand take home the trophy.
5. Her international debut in XVs came at Eden Park in 2013 in the 1,000th Test match of women’s rugby. She started on the wing against England and scored a try in the Black Ferns’ first win against their old foe in seven matches.
6. Woodman has won a remarkable four Rugby World Cup titles – two in Sevens (2013, 2018) and two in XVs (2017 and 201); a Commonwealth gold medal from 2018 as well as three Olympic medals in rugby sevens, a silver medal from 2016 in Rio and a gold medal from Tokyo in 2021 and Paris 2024.
At RWC 2017 she scored eight tries against Hong Kong!
7. In 2024, Woodman-Wickliffe announced she would retire from international rugby following the Paris Olympics.
Following good form in the Super Rugby Aupiki domestic tournament, she decided to come out of international retirement in a bid to play in the 2025 World Cup.
On her second game back, Woodman-Wickliffe scored an incredible seven tries against the USA.
8. She has a daughter, Kaia, with partner Renee Wickliffe, who is also a top New Zealand international rugby player.
9. She is known by her team-mates as being game to try anything once, particularly food. She will even joke that some extreme delicacies taste nice, just to see her team-mates join in and fall foul of something unpleasant.
10. Woodman-Wicklifee was named in the Black Ferns squad to play in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England.
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