Kararaina Wira-Kohu (born 9 March 1992) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer. Her position is prop. She previously played for the Newcastle Knights Women in the NRL Women's Premiership.

Kararaina Wira-Kohu
Personal information
Born (1992-03-09) 9 March 1992 (age 32)
Te Tai Tokerau (Whangārei), New Zealand
Height172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight105 kg (16 st 7 lb)
Playing information
PositionProp
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2021 Newcastle Knights 1 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017–22 NZ Māori Ferns 4 1 0 0 4
2020 Kiwi Ferns 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]
As of 9 August 2022

Background

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Born in Te Tai Tokerau (Whangārei), New Zealand, Wira-Kohu is of Māori descent.[2]

Playing career

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Early years

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Wira-Kohu played for the Papakura Sisters, before moving to the Manurewa Marlins[3] in 2017, also playing for the Northern Swords that season.[4] Later that year she played for the New Zealand Māori Ferns against the Indigenous All Stars.[5][4] In 2018, she represented the Auckland women's rugby league team[6] and was named in the New Zealand Māori Ferns squad again.[7] In 2019, she returned to Papakura, represented the Counties Manukau Stingrays[8] and played for the Northland Kauri rugby union side in the Farah Palmer Cup.[4] She continued to represent the New Zealand Māori Ferns in both 2019 and 2020.[2][4] In 2020, she played for the New Zealand Kiwi Ferns against the Fetū Samoa invitational side.[9] In December 2021, she signed with the Newcastle Knights to be a part of their inaugural NRLW squad.[10]

2022

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In round 4 of the delayed 2021 NRL Women's season, Wira-Kohu made her NRLW debut for the Knights against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.[11] She played in 1 match for the Knights, before parting ways with the club at the end of the season.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Kararaina Wira-Kohu - Career Stats & Summary - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
  2. ^ a b "Indigenous and Maori Women's Teams Named". 16 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Manurewa Marlins". NZRL. 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d "Kararaina Wira-Kohu".
  5. ^ "Squads named for Festival of Indigenous Rugby League". National Rugby League. 15 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Women's squad named for Friday league clash". Māori Television.
  7. ^ "All Stars ideal Indigenous pathway for Young and youngsters". National Rugby League. 6 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Stingrays and Hale take top awards". Warriors. 28 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Strong Warriors flavour in Kiwi Ferns squad". Warriors. 2 November 2020.
  10. ^ "NRLW 2022: Newcastle Knights, club confirms nine Kiwi Ferns for inaugural campaign - NRL". National Rugby League. 1 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Squad Update: Debutants included for NRLW side". Newcastle Knights. 19 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Custom Match List - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
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