Kiana Takairangi (born 20 July 1992) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Cronulla Sharks in the NRL Women's Premiership.
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 20 July 1992 Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (11 st 11 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Wing, Centre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: RLP As of 16 July 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A winger or centre, she has represented the Cook Islands and New Zealand internationally. She previously played for the Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights in the NRLW and the Sharks in the NSWRL Women's Premiership.
Background
editKiana is the sister of Cook Islands and New Zealand international Brad Takairangi. Her father, Louis, played three games for the Parramatta Eels in 1987.
She has also played for the Los Angeles Temptation in the Legends Football League.[2]
Playing career
editIn 2017, Takairangi represented the Cook Islands at the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup.[3]
On 22 June 2019, Takairangi made her debut for New Zealand, starting at centre and scoring two tries in a 46–8 win over Samoa.[4][5] On 1 July 2019, she was named in the Sydney Roosters NRL Women's Premiership squad.[6]
In Round 1 of the 2019 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Roosters in a 12–16 loss to the New Zealand Warriors.[7] In October 2019, she was a member of New Zealand's 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s-winning squad.[8]
In 2020, Takairangi re-signed with the Roosters as a development player for the 2020 NRL Women's season.
In June 2022, Takairangi signed with the Newcastle Knights for the 2022 season.[9] She made her club debut for the Knights in round 1 of the 2022 NRLW season against the Brisbane Broncos.[10] In the Knights' round 5 win over the St. George Illawarra Dragons, she made her first NRLW appearance at centre and scored her first try, where she beat 5 defenders on her way to the line.[11]
On 2 October 2022, Takairangi played in the Knights' NRLW Grand Final win over the Parramatta Eels, scoring two tries in the Knights' 32-12 victory.[12]
In April 2023, Takairangi signed a 1-year contract with new NRLW side Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.[13]
References
edit- ^ "Kiana Takairangi". New South Wales Rugby League.
- ^ "Brother/sister in arms". Cook Islands News. 30 January 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020.
- ^ "Cook Islands name team for 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup". Rugby League Planet. 11 October 2017.
- ^ "Takairangi keeps up the family tradition in big Ferns win". NRL. 22 June 2019.
- ^ "Two debutantes named in Kiwi Ferns test team to tackle Fetu Samoa". Stuff. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ "Roosters announce 2019 NRLW Squad". Sydney Roosters. 1 July 2019.
- ^ "NRLW Late Mail - Round 1". Sydney Roosters. 14 September 2019.
- ^ "World Cup winners for WNRL Nines". NZ Warriors. 10 February 2020.
- ^ "Knights confirm further 2022 NRLW signings". Newcastle Knights. 9 June 2022.
- ^ "Late Mail: NRLW team confirmed for Broncos clash". Newcastle Knights. 21 August 2022.
- ^ "Knights finish regular season with classy win over the Dragons". Newcastle Knights. 18 September 2022.
- ^ "Knights v Eels". National Rugby League. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ "Local talent signs on for NRLW Sharks". Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. 27 April 2023.