The New Zealand women's national rugby league team, also known as the Kiwi Ferns or New Zealand Kiwi Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's rugby league. They are administered by the New Zealand Rugby League.
New Zealand won the Women's Rugby League World Cup in 2000, 2003 and 2008.
Contents
History
The Kiwi Ferns were formed in 1995.
Touring Australia in June and July 1995, the team won all seven games that they played. Two of the games were full internationals against Australia.
The First Test Match was held on 1 July 1995 at Lidcombe Oval in Sydney. New Zealand 18 defeated Australia 14. The Second Test was held on 8 July 1995 at Hawker Oval in Canberra. New Zealand 14 defeated Australia 6.
In 1997, New Zealand hosted Australia for two Test matches, winning both.
New Zealand hosted a 1998 tour by Great Britain, winning all three matches by comfortable margins, the score of 28 to 6 in the First Test being the closest.
During a Trans-Tasman series in 1999, New Zealand experienced their first defeat, a narrow 20-22 loss in the Second Test at Penrith. New Zealand won the third Test in Auckland to claim the series two-one.
New Zealand competed in the 2000 World Cup, beating Australia and Great Britain twice each to claim the inaugural title.
New Zealand remained undefeated in the 2000s until a one-off Test Match against Australia in 2009. During this period, the Kiwi Ferns won one-off matches in 2001 and 2002, all six matches in the 2003 World Cup to claim their second title, two matches in 2004, another in 2006, and all five matches in the 2008 World Cup to claim their third title as World Cup champions. The winning streak extended to 21 matches.
Coaches
Also see Category:New Zealand women's national rugby league team coaches.
The current coach of the New Zealand team is Ricky Henry, who replaced Justin Morgan in 2020. Morgan had been the coach since 2018.
Note:
Last updated: 10 November 2025
Players
Current squad
The Kiwi Ferns squad for the 2025 Pacific Championships was announced on 7 October 2025.
Jersey numbers in the table reflect selections for the Pacific Cup Final versus the Australian Jillaroos
Players' ages are as at the date that the table was last updated, 9 November 2025 (after the Pacific Cup Final).
Notes
Eight squad members have previously played for Australasian based representative teams:
Samoa (1): Tufuga
Māori All Stars (6): Anderson, Biddle, King, McGregor, Parker, and Quinlan
New South Wales (2): Anderson and Parker
NSW City (3): Anderson, Parker and Tufuga
NRL All Stars (1): Parker
Australian Prime Minister's XIII: Clark
Players unavailable due to injury include: Madison Bartlett, Jasmine Solia, and Brooke Talataina.
Mya Hill-Moana missed the 2025 NRLW season due to pregnancy.
Gayle Broughton was unavailable due to personal reasons.
The team announcement listed an additional eight players as members of the wider squad: Jasmin Strange (Roosters), Mackenzie Wiki (Raiders), Matekino Gray (Warriors), Moana Courtenay (Bulldogs), Payton Takimoana (Warriors), Tenika Willison (Knights), Trinity Tauaneai (Dragons), and Martha Mataele (Eels). Mataele and Courtenay were selected for Tonga.
Competitive record
Head to head records
Notes:
Table last updated 10 November 2025.
Share is the portion of "For" points compared to the sum of "For" and "Against" points.
Upcoming fixtures
New Zealand has qualified for the 2026 World Cup to be held in October-November 2026. All three of the Kiwi Fern's pool games have been scheduled within a multi-match game day. The second round match in Christchurch precedes a New Zealand men's team match. The third round match on the Queensland Gold Coast follows a women's match between Fiji and France and a men's match between New Zealand and Fiji.
Records
Individual records
This section last updated 17 November 2024.
The tally of tries, goals and points for this section is missing
All of the 16 points vs Australia on 23 September 2009.
4 of 44 points vs England on 10 October 2010 (First Test). A long report in the New Zealand Herald mentions the scorers of the ten tries but omits the goal-kicker.
Points scored: 246
Trish Hina (33 tries, 57 goals)
Tries scored: 45
Honey Hireme
Goals kicked: 57
Trish Hina
Points scored in a match: 40
Trish Hina (5 tries, 10 goals) vs Samoa, World Cup, 6 October 2003.
Tries scored in a match: 6
Fuarosa Time vs Tokelau, World Cup, 2 October 2003.
Honey Hireme vs Cook Islands, World Cup, 19 November 2017.
Goals kicked in a match: 10
Trish Hina vs Samoa, World Cup, 6 October 2003.
Laura Mariu vs Pacific Islands, World Cup 6 November 2008.
Notes:
Most Games is not listed above as full line-ups are not known to contributors for multiple matches prior to 2011.
Team records
Biggest winning margins
Biggest losing margins
Most consecutive wins
Most consecutive losses
Individual awards
Player of the Year
A female Player of the Year award is included in the New Zealand Rugby League Awards.
Rookie of the Year
A female Rookie of the Year award has been included in the New Zealand Rugby League Awards since 2018.
Past squads
1990s
The Kiwi Ferns were formed in 1995.
1995 Inaugural Kiwi Ferns Team
Juanita Hall (C)
Zavana Aranga
Maria Auega
Luisa Avaiki
Golly Baker
Nadene Conlon
Wendy Cunningham
Michelle Driscoll
Eva Epiha
Sharlene Hannah
Kaylene Ihaia
Therese Mangos
Tania Martin
Nicole Presland
Eileen Rankin (VC)
Debbie Syme
Megan Tahapeehi
Lynley Tierney
Laura Waretini
Rachel White
Sara White
Tammi Wilson
Leah Witehira
Coach: Janie Thompson
Managers: Diana Hay and Ollie Karu and Yvonne Hiko and Maia Le Cheminant
Masseur: Josie O'Dwyer
2000s
2000 World Cup Kiwi Ferns Squad
Somma Te Kahu
Sharlene Johnson
Michelle Driscoll
Selena Te Amo
Stacey O'Carroll
Trish Hina
Leah Witehira
Nicole Presland (C)
Tracy Wrigley
Luisa Avaiki
Rachel White
Nadene Conlon (C)
Tasha Davie
Laura Mariu
Ina Muaiava
Frances Te Ao
Hanna Wainohu
Nola Campbell
Miriama Niha
Lynley Tierney-Mani
Rachel Cooper
Priscilla Moke
Vicki Logopati
Katrina Howard
Coach: Michael Rawiri
Trainer: Bob
New Zealand travelled to Great Britain for the Inaugural Women's Rugby League World Cup. New Zealand beat both Great Britain & Ireland and Australia in round matches, and then Australia in a semi-final to play Great Britain & Ireland in the final. New Zealand won the Final 26–4, to win the World Cup.
2010s
2010 Kiwi Ferns Team
The Kiwi Ferns team for the First Test against England was: Sarina Fiso; Sharlene Ata, Trish Hina, Karley Te Korua, Laura Mariu; Rona Peters, Josephine Leef; Sharnita Woodman, Ana Pereira, Cynthia Ta’ala, Honey Hireme, Maryanne Collins. Interchange: Ebony Low, Akehene Pereira, Maryanne Hemara, Kathleen Keremete. There were four changes to the seventeen for the Second Test, with Bridget Smith, Lorina Papali'i, Charmaine McMenamim and Alisha Moses playing in that match.
2014 Kiwi Ferns Team
The Kiwi Ferns beat the Jillaroos 12 - 8 in a curtain-raiser match ahead of the Four Nations match between the Kangaroos and Samoa at the WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Australia.
2015 Kiwi Ferns Team
The 2015 Anzac Test curtain-raiser match between the Ferns and the Jillaroos was initially to be played on 1 May but was postponed due to bad weather. The match commenced on 3 May at the Suncorp Stadium with the Jillaroos winning the match 22 - 14.