Cup winner laps up her new home
La Toya Mason played 70 tests for England, three Rugby World Cup finals, winning the 2014 decider, but reckons she never reached her full potential as a player.
Now back home, as Taranaki Rugby’s head of women’s rugby and with the first Chiefs women’s team as an assistant coach, the former halfback, who was born in Auckland, is watching the women’s game grow in ways she never could have imagined at the start of her international career in 2009.
That’s because Mason had to balance her day job – as a community rugby coach and later with the girls’ academy at Bishop Burton College in northern England – while still being an elite international player when the women’s game was essentially amateur in England.
After Mason retired in 2017, England’s top players were awarded professional contracts in 2019 and the Black Ferns, while still semiprofessional, have been on retainer contracts since 2018. Meanwhile, New Zealand Rugby’s women’s sevens programme operates fulltime and its players are on professional contacts.
Super Rugby’s first women’s match, between the Blues and the Chiefs at Eden Park today, is hoped to be the catalyst for a professional women’s competition from 2022.
‘‘If you asked me 10 years ago if that [was possible], I’d be like no. But now we can tell girls that there is a future being a fulltime rugby player. That’s awesome,’’ Mason said. ‘‘When I started playing for England, you still had your day jobs and had to try to fit in all your training around that.
‘‘You had to be good with your time management. It was tiring, you didn’t get as good as recovery as you could, so were you ever at your full potential? Probably not.
What: Blues women v Chiefs women
Where, when: Eden Park, Auckland; today, 4.35pm
Blues: Hayley Hutana, Natahlia Moors, Sylvia Brunt, Ruahei Demant, Princess Elliot, Patricia Maliepo, Luisa Togotogorua; Charmaine McMenamin, Kate Williams, Lisa Molia, Maia Roos, Eloise Blackwell (c), Aleisha Pearl-Nelson, TK NgataAerengamate, Krystal Murray. Reserves: Sapphire Abraham, Aldora Itunu, Cristo Tofa, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Shannon Leota, Moana Cook, Tyler Nankivell, Daynah Nankivell.
Chiefs: Renee Holmes, Kelsey Teneti, Ngatokotoru Arakua, Chelsea Alley (vc), Langi Veainu, Hazel Tubic, Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu; Kennedy Simon, Les Elder (c), Kendra Reynolds, Chyna Hohepa, Kelsie Wills, Tanya Kalounivale, Luka Connor, Angel Mulu. Reserves: Grace Houpapa-Barrett, Awhina TangenWainohu, Leilani Perese, Harono Te Iringa, Pia Tapsell, Ariana Bayler, Shyanne Thompson, Iritana Hohaia.
‘‘Now, these girls are so lucky in what they do. They’ve got the time to recover and can go to camps during the days as athletes.’’
The 36-year-old’s last match as a player was the 2017 World Cup final loss against the Black Ferns in Belfast – her third appearance off the bench in the global decider – and she returned to New Zealand permanently last year, attending her sister’s wedding before the Covid-19 lockdown.
Despite ‘‘falling out of love with the game’’ towards the end of her playing career, Mason is clearly committed to developing women’s rugby in her roles with Taranaki and the Chiefs.
Based in Waitara, near New Plymouth, she has been driving up to seven hours on return trips to attend the Chiefs’ training sessions in Cambridge or Hamilton since the landmark fixture was announced in late March.
‘‘It’s amazing the girls get this chance to play Super Rugby. To have the Chiefs playing on this stage, it just shows how far women’s rugby has come,’’ Mason said. ‘‘It’s live on TV, at the home of rugby, Eden Park, and girls can see it.’’
Mason, tasked with running the backs and organising strike moves for the Chiefs, played for Auckland in the provincial women’s competition (now the Farah Palmer Cup) before she moved to England.
She qualified for England through her grandparents but was always planning to come home, having played domestically for Darlington and Wasps, after winning Six Nations titles and the 2014 World Cup. Her two World Cup final defeats, in 2010 and 2017, were against the Black Ferns.
Her Taranaki job is fulltime, overseeing high performance programmes and their Farah Palmer Cup campaign, but working for the Chiefs is still an unpaid role because today’s fixture is classified as an exhibition match.
While Mason excelled as a player in England, the Kiwi game is sure to benefit from her qualities and experience as a coach.