Ferns debutante owes much to her family
Black Fern Kilisitina Moata’ane is number eight on a very important list to her.
That’s not the number on her playing jersey, it’s her place in a family that has nine children.
Moata’ane is the second youngest with five brothers and three sisters, from whom she attributes much of her determination and drive.
The Black Ferns midfielder often had to plead her brothers to include her in tackle matches on the lawn or anything with the oval ball.
‘‘I always wanted to play with the boys. I was always keen to play anything with them. If they had a ball, I always wanted to play with them. They were rough.’’
She was born in Auckland, but at a young age Moata’ane moved to Dunedin with her family where she was schooled at Kavanagh College and still lives in the southern city.
‘‘Excited, nervous and emotional’’ is the best way to describe Moata’ane’s feelings as she prepares for her Black Ferns debut.
Moata’ane, who works as a teacher aide at Otago Girls’ High School, was called into the squad last year for the first time, but never made it to the end-of-year tour because of an Achilles problem that ruled her out of the entire 2018 season.
Bad luck struck twice, and this year she missed out on the US Super Series in June because of an MCL injury to her knee.
She never thought about giving up on her dream and this week she was named to start off the bench for the test against Australia.
‘‘These sort of things make you a better player,’’ she said.
‘‘The first time I had doubts, but it just made me even hungrier to get back on to the field.’’
She gets this hunger from her father, One Moata’ane, and said he was her inspiration to give rugby a go in her latter years of high school.
‘‘He was the one who wanted me to play rugby in the first place. I didn’t really want to play rugby until he told me to.’’
The Black Ferns-wallaroos test will be a curtain-raiser to the All Blacks-wallabies test at Optus Stadium in Perth tonight. The Wallaroos have never beaten the Black Ferns in 17 tests.
‘‘If they had a ball, I always wanted to play with them. They were rough.’’