Atlanta Lolohea: from a first game at 16 to player of the match in an Aupiki Grand Final

Atlanta Lolohea did not pick up a rugby ball until she was 16. Six years later she had a Super Rugby title with Matatū, two more with the Blues, a try on her Test debut and a World Cup behind her, and in July 2026 she was named player of the match in an Aupiki Grand Final after scoring twice. She is a hooker who stands 160 centimetres and describes herself in three words: powerful, fast and fit. This is the story of how she got there, with an older sister who wore the black jersey first.

A big name

Lolohea was born on 16 April 2003; World Rugby's records give her birthplace as Whangārei. She was named after Atlanta, Georgia, because a cousin, a singer of Tongan music, was performing there at the time and her parents liked the sound of it. "Big, I guess that matches my personality," she told Newsroom's Adam Julian in 2024.

Part of her childhood was spent in Westport, on the West Coast. "Westport, there wasn't much to it, but it was where I first saw rugby," she said. Her brother played and she watched for a long time before she joined in. Her father's work as a primary school teacher later took the family to Christchurch.

Rugby also ran through the family. Her older sister by four years, Martha Mataele, born Martha Lolohea, is a wing who played for Canterbury and Matatū and won two Test caps for the Black Ferns in 2023 before switching to rugby league, where she has played in the NRLW for the Parramatta Eels and for Tonga.

Villa Maria, late

Lolohea went to Villa Maria College in Christchurch and started playing rugby in Year 11, at 16. She is honest about the school team. "We had a lot of hype, but we weren't that skilful," she told Newsroom. In her first season Villa Maria had to combine with other schools to field a side; the next year they had enough players of their own. She started at second five-eighth and worked her way in towards the scrum. "Forwards, I love the forwards."

Canterbury noticed quickly. NZR's profile records that she was 17 when she was first included in Canterbury's Farah Palmer Cup squad in 2020, but a dislocated shoulder held her back, and she did not play for the province until 2022.

Christchurch club and Canterbury

Her break came through club rugby. In 2022 she scored two tries for Christchurch Football Club in their 38-25 win over University in the Premier Women's club final, and that earned her a place in Canterbury's Farah Palmer Cup Premiership side.

Her debut was against Wellington in Porirua. Canterbury won 43-5 and Martha scored a try. "My proudest rugby moment," Lolohea called it two years later, adding that the long wait and the work back from injury had taught her to analyse the game better. Canterbury won the 2022 Premiership, their fifth in six seasons, and Lolohea shared the competition's most promising player award with Hannah King, now a Black Ferns first five.

By Newsroom's count she played 13 games for Canterbury and was on the winning side in 11 of them, including a 58-29 win over Wellington in Christchurch in which she scored twice.

Matatū, a final and a signing in Perth

In 2023 she earned a Super Rugby Aupiki contract with Matatū, where Martha was already playing. Chiefs Manawa had won every regular-season match, but Matatū beat them 33-31 at FMG Stadium Waikato on 25 March 2023 in the first Aupiki final, with Lolohea on the bench behind established Black Ferns hooker Georgia Ponsonby. Both sisters were part of the title-winning squad.

That March, TP+ reported that Lolohea had also signed with the Western Force for the 2023 Super W season in Australia. In September she played for the Black Ferns XV in their 38-12 win over Samoa's Manusina XV at Pukekohe, and during the first WXV in New Zealand that October she was called into the Black Ferns as injury cover for the final week. Martha had made her Test debut that September.

A Sunday phone call

In April 2024 Black Ferns director of rugby Allan Bunting rang her on a quiet Sunday afternoon to tell her she had a full-time contract, one of five first-time contracted players with Hannah King, Kahlia Awa, Maia Joseph and Maama Vaipulu. "I tried to prep for a bad outcome for the call," she told Newsroom. "I was quite shocked." Martha was not re-contracted that year. "It's bittersweet Martha not making it, but she was so chuffed for me," Lolohea said. "She'll be back."

Her Test debut came off the bench against the Wallaroos at Ballymore in Brisbane on 14 July 2024, in the second Laurie O'Reilly Cup Test of the year, and she scored a try as the Black Ferns won 62-0. She was on the bench again in the 12-24 loss to England in London, then went to the WXV in Canada. Against Ireland in Vancouver on 29 September she made her first Test start, wearing No. 2, and scored, but Ireland won 29-27. She came off the bench against England in Langley and in the 39-14 win over France in Vancouver.

The Blues and a World Cup

For 2025 Lolohea moved north to the Blues, where she made her debut against Hurricanes Poua. She scored in a 49-26 win over Poua at Eden Park, then started at hooker in the final against her old club as the Blues beat Matatū 26-19 to keep the title. Five days later she started again as the Blues beat the NSW Waratahs 36-5 at North Harbour Stadium in the first trans-Tasman Champions Final.

In the Black Ferns she came off the bench twice in the 2025 Pacific Four Series, in a 38-12 win over Australia in Newcastle and a 27-27 draw with Canada in Christchurch. When the World Cup squad was named on 25 July, she was one of three hookers alongside Ponsonby and Vici-Rose Green. In England she came off the bench against Japan in Exeter, a 62-19 pool win, in the 46-17 quarter-final win over South Africa, also in Exeter, and in the 19-34 semi-final loss to Canada at Ashton Gate in Bristol. The squad went on to win bronze.

Player of the match

Lolohea's first Test of 2026 came off the bench on Anzac Day, when the Black Ferns beat the Wallaroos 40-5 at Sunshine Coast Stadium to win the Pacific Four Series.

Back at the Blues she scored in the 42-7 opening-round win over Poua at Eden Park, and by RugbyPass's count she finished the Aupiki season in the competition's top 10 for both tackles, with 85, and carries, with 73, while the Blues' scrum and lineout returns were the best in the competition. The Grand Final against Matatū at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch on 25 July drew more than 10,000 people. RugbyPass reported that Ruahei Demant fell ill before the game, leaving Lolohea and prop Harono Te Iringa to lead the haka at the last minute.

Lolohea then opened the scoring in the 16th minute, powering over after work from Hollyrae Mete-Renata, Mererangi Paul and Braxton Sorensen-McGee. With the scores locked at 14-14 for 26 minutes in the second half, she scored again in the 70th minute after a build-up driven by Liana Mikaele-Tu'u and Katelyn Vaha'akolo. Matatū levelled late, and Vaha'akolo won it 28-21 in the corner with the last attack. The official report named Lolohea player of the match and said she had led from the front as the Blues won a third straight title. A concussion kept her out of the Champions Final win in Sydney a week later.

She was named in the 31-player Black Ferns squad for the rest of 2026 with 11 caps. She came off the bench in the 52-20 win over South Africa in Johannesburg, in the 28-14 win over France in Lyon and in the 19-26 loss to England at Twickenham. Named on the bench again for the 150th Test, against France in Whangārei, she hurt an ankle at training two days before the match and was ruled out, and the same injury kept her out of the final Test in Christchurch.

Standing

Lolohea's career has mostly been spent as the second hooker behind Ponsonby, who captained the Black Ferns in five Tests in 2026. Thirteen of her 14 Tests have come off the bench. NZR's profile credits her with physicality and work rate and says her professionalism and work ethic made a strong impression when she was first called in as injury cover. The Blues describe her as a hardworking hooker who has been around professional rugby from a young age.

Her own description, from Newsroom in 2024, is the shortest. "I'm powerful, I'm fast and I'm fit."

What is next

Lolohea turns 24 in April 2027. The Black Ferns meet the Wallaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Anzac Day 2027, after the first Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup Test, and then host the British and Irish Lions Women for three Tests in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in September, the first women's Lions tour.

Career at a glance

Test figures are New Zealand Rugby's (stats.allblacks.com). World Rugby's database lists two extra 2023 appearances under the Lolohea surname; they belong to her sister Martha, whose official surname is also Lolohea, and are not counted here.