Amarante Sititi: born in Osaka, head girl in 2025, a try-scoring Black Fern at 19

Amarante Sititi was born in Osaka, grew up in South Auckland and was still head girl at Auckland Girls' Grammar School when she played her first game for the Auckland Storm. A year later she was a Black Fern. The loose forward and lock, daughter of a Samoa captain and sister of an All Black, came off the bench in each of her first five Tests in 2026 and scored in four of them. She is 19.

Osaka and South Auckland

Amarante Rosalind Sititi was born in Osaka, Japan, in May 2007, while her father, Semo Sititi, was playing and coaching there. Semo captained Manu Samoa, played 59 Tests between 1999 and 2009 and appeared at three World Cups, and his professional career took him from the Hurricanes to Cardiff, the Border Reivers in Scotland, Newcastle Falcons and the NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes in Osaka. Her older brother is All Black Wallace Sititi, the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2024.

The family spent her first five years in Japan before settling in South Auckland. Semo has said they came to New Zealand for better education, sport and health opportunities, and that the children were raised in the Samoan way. "We brought them up in Sāmoan," he told PMN's Pacific Huddle in 2026, describing values of respect, humility, service and hard work.

Her first name, by RugbyPass's account, means the flower that never fades.

School and the decision to go pro

Sititi first played rugby at primary school in Papatoetoe, and at Auckland Girls' Grammar School she played in a First XV that won a local title and finished runner-up twice. She also played basketball and volleyball. She began in the backs, at first five-eighth, before moving into the forwards. In 2025, her final year, she was head girl.

Wallace remembers the moment the plan changed. He told reporters before the Johannesburg Test that his sister had played a lot of sports growing up, and that one day, after he picked her up from school, she told him she wanted to play rugby professionally. "In her last two years of school, she really took it seriously," he said.

Auckland Storm, 2025

Sititi was still at school when she made her Farah Palmer Cup debut for Auckland on the artificial turf at College Rifles in August 2025. The opponents were Waikato, the defending Premiership champions, and Auckland beat them 31-28. Sititi scored one of Auckland's five tries, and New Zealand Rugby's round review noted her 10 tackles and several strong carries.

Two weeks later she scored again as Auckland put 104 points on Bay of Plenty at Eden Park, 16 tries to four, a win that kept the JJ Stewart Trophy, the women's equivalent of the Ranfurly Shield, in Auckland. She also scored against Canterbury, which meant she had crossed against both of the season's eventual finalists. Auckland's year ended with a 36-29 semi-final loss to Waikato. At season's end Auckland Rugby named her both its FPC Emerging Player of the Year and its Players' Player of the Year, and New Zealand Rugby gave her a National Development Contract for 2026. She was also awarded a Tania Dalton Foundation scholarship, a programme for leading young female athletes.

The Blues

The Blues signed her in April 2026, at 18, fresh out of school. Head coach Willie Walker called her "an exceptional young athlete with a huge ceiling" and said she was the type of player who embraces the big moments. She was billed as one of the headline names in the Blues' Super Rugby Aupiki squad.

After a strong pre-season she was handed a start in the opening round, against Hurricanes Poua at Eden Park on 13 June, and the Blues won 42-7. A concussion kept her out of the 27-26 win over Chiefs Manawa in Hamilton a week later. She came back for the rest of the regular season, started five of the Blues' six round-robin games, and scored in the 42-26 win over Chiefs Manawa at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei.

The Blues lost two in a row in the middle of the season, to Matatū and Hurricanes Poua, but recovered to reach the final. On 25 July, in front of 10,067 at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch, Sititi started at blindside flanker and played the whole match as the Blues beat Matatū 28-21 for a third straight Aupiki title, Katelyn Vaha'akolo scoring the winner in the 82nd minute. A week later she started again at No.6 as the Blues beat the NSW Waratahs 24-17 at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney to retain the trans-Tasman Champions Final title.

Black Fern No.275

When Whitney Hansen named her 31-player squad for the rest of 2026 on 10 August, Sititi was one of five uncapped players, listed as a lock. The Blues announcement led with her name. She played at lock in the Black Ferns' trial win over a New Zealand Women XV in Upper Hutt, and was then named on the bench for the O'Reilly Cup Test against Australia at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart on 22 August. Hansen described her as "a phenomenal talent with the versatility to play both lock and loose forward", and powerful in collisions.

The family was at the jersey presentation the night before. Wearing No.19, Sititi came on in the second half and crashed over from close range for the last of the Black Ferns' ten tries in a 66-19 win that kept the O'Reilly Cup in New Zealand. Elinor-Plum King and Shyrah Tuliau-Tua'a debuted the same afternoon, and Tuliau-Tua'a scored too.

"It's really special, it's a big moment for our families," Sititi said afterwards. She admitted the call-up had come sooner than she expected: "I was actually surprised I'm on the team." Hansen said the newcomers brought "a great sort of fresh enthusiasm into our group", and captain Ruahei Demant said the young Pasifika players were now following Liana Mikaele-Tu'u and Maiakawanakaulani Roos as role models for girls in their communities. NZR's debut feature noted that Sititi models her game on Ardie Savea, whom she looked up to as a child.

Semo watched with pride and a warning. "As a father, it fills me with immense pride," he said. Then: "The hardest part now is how long you want to stay in there."

Two Sititis at FNB Stadium

Two weeks later the Black Ferns and All Blacks shared a double-header at FNB Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, on 5 September, and both Sititis were named at No.20. "To have my little sister next to me is extra special," Wallace said in the build-up, adding that their father had flown in for the match. Amarante called him "a big inspiration for me, just like my dad", and said Semo's advice was simply to play her own game and be herself. Rugby365 likened the occasion to the day Annaleah and Xavier Rush both played for New Zealand, at the Sydney Football Stadium on 29 August 1998.

In the Black Ferns' first Test on South African soil, Sititi came off the bench and scored again, and New Zealand won 52-20 despite four yellow cards. The All Blacks lost their match 24-29, with Wallace on as a replacement.

Europe and home

Sititi was not in the 23 for the WXV Global Series opener against France in Lyon, but returned to the bench at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on 19 September, came on for Mia Anderson at half-time and, by the NZ Herald's account, scored almost straight away, her third Test try in a 66-14 win over Scotland. She was not in the 23 for the 19-26 loss to England at Twickenham or the 81-12 win over France in Hamilton.

Back on the bench for the 150th Test in Black Ferns history, against France at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei on 24 October, she was listed among the locks for what NZR called her fourth Test. With the Black Ferns only 14-12 up at half-time, Maia Joseph threw a wide pass that sent Sititi racing over to make it 19-12, and the home side went on to win 31-12. She came off the bench once more in the 36-7 win over France in Christchurch on 31 October that closed a season of ten wins from a record 11 Tests.

That made five Tests, all as a replacement, all won, with four tries and 20 points by NZR's count.

Off the field

Sititi is studying for a Bachelor of Sport and Human Performance at the University of Waikato and, according to NZR, plans to become a physiotherapist once she stops playing. Semo's advice to both his children, he said, is to stay grounded and remember who they are and where they come from.

What is next

The Black Ferns open 2027 against the Wallaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Anzac Day, after the first Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup Test, and in September they host the first British and Irish Lions Women's tour, with Tests in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Sititi turns 20 in May 2027, with a second Aupiki season with the Blues in between.

Career at a glance

Test figures are New Zealand Rugby's; NZR also lists one non-Test match, against a New Zealand Women XV in Upper Hutt in August 2026. Blues appearances are counted from Wikipedia's 2026 Aupiki and Champions Final match records.