Maddison Robinson: from Seddon's under-10s to a try for the Black Ferns

Maddi Robinson did not set out to be a Black Fern. She played rugby at school and university to keep fit and make friends, by her employer's account, and somewhere along the way the friends and the fitness turned into a Canterbury development jersey, a Super Rugby contract and, in April 2026, a black jersey with the number 271 attached. Maddison Robinson, to use the name on her RUGBE card and on New Zealand Rugby's records, played in 10 of the Black Ferns' record 11 Tests in her first season, made her first start in Edinburgh and scored her first Test try in Christchurch. This is the story of a loosehead prop who worked her way up the long way.

Seddon to Lincoln

Robinson was born on 3 June 2001, and NZR lists her birthplace as Canterbury. Her rugby started further north, in the small Marlborough town of Seddon, where she played for the under-10 and under-11 teams. ANZCO Foods, where she works, described that as the beginning of her rugby journey when it told her colleagues about her selections.

From there the game kept her company. ANZCO's account is that she played through high school and university mainly to stay fit and be with friends, and ended up earning a place in the Canterbury development team. NZR's profile says she rose through the Canterbury system and graduated from the Canterbury High Performance Academy, and the club she was selected from is Lincoln University.

NZR says she has represented both Tasman and Canterbury in the Farah Palmer Cup. Canterbury is the province she plays for now.

The Black Ferns XV and the Blues

Her first national recognition came in September 2023, when Whitney Hansen, then coach of the new Black Ferns XV, named her among five props, aged 22, in the squad to play Samoa's Manusina XV. Hansen said one highlight of that season's Farah Palmer Cup had been how many young players impressed for their provinces. The Black Ferns XV won the match 38-12 in the rain at Pukekohe.

A Super Rugby contract followed. The Blues named her among their new players for the 2024 Aupiki season, and the club's profile said she would be learning from fellow prop and assistant coach Census Johnston. She was on the bench, wearing No. 17, for the 2024 final, which the Blues won 24-18 against Chiefs Manawa for their first Aupiki title.

Eight months out

Then came the hardest stretch. An injury kept her out for eight months, according to ANZCO, and her first game back was a Super Rugby final. By 2025 she had moved to Matatū, and she was on the Matatū bench, again at No. 17, for the 2025 Aupiki final against the Blues at Eden Park, which the Blues won 26-19.

That July she was picked for the Black Ferns XV again, one of five props in a 28-player squad coached by Willie Walker for two matches against the Springbok Women at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. It was the first time a New Zealand women's national team had played in South Africa. She had learned of her selection only a week before the squad flew out. The Black Ferns XV won the first match 34-26 and lost the second 41-24, leaving the series level. At the time Robinson was working as a sales and marketing intern at ANZCO Foods; by 2026 the company was describing her as a sales executive.

A black jersey

ANZCO reported that she joined the Black Ferns in January 2026. In March, Hansen, now head coach, named her first squad: 30 players for the Pacific Four Series, eight of them potential debutants. Robinson was listed as a 24-year-old loosehead from Canterbury, and NZR's announcement grouped her with Mo'omo'oga Palu as "powerful props" picked after impressing in the previous year's Black Ferns XV and Aupiki campaigns. Nine of the squad had been in Hansen's inaugural Black Ferns XV in 2023.

Hansen opened her announcement by saying she wanted to "congratulate those who have been selected in the Black Ferns for the first time", and their whānau.

Robinson's debut came off the bench on 11 April 2026 against the USA at Heart Health Park in Sacramento. The Black Ferns led only 19-15 at half-time and then scored 29 unanswered points to win 48-15. Mia Anderson, Justine McGregor and Tara Turner made their debuts in the same match. She was back on the bench a week later as the Black Ferns came from 14-5 down to beat Canada 36-14 in Kansas City, and again on Anzac Day, when the Black Ferns beat the Wallaroos 40-5 at Sunshine Coast Stadium, the first time the two sides had met on Anzac Day, to retain the Pacific Four title and the Laurie O'Reilly Cup.

Matatū's loosehead

Back home for Super Rugby Aupiki, Robinson was one of seven current Black Ferns in a Matatū squad coached by Blair Baxter. NZR's preview of the second round described the Matatū pack as formidable and named her first among the forwards who gave it "experience and continuity".

Matatū reached the Grand Final, against the Blues at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch on 25 July, in front of 10,067 people. Robinson started at loosehead and played until the 76th minute. Matatū led 14-7 at one point, were level at 14-14 for 26 minutes in the second half and then fought back to 21-21 late, but Katelyn Vaha'akolo scored in the corner two minutes past full time and the Blues won 28-21.

Every Test but one

Robinson was named in the Black Ferns' 31-player squad for the rest of 2026 in August, with three caps to her name. She came off the bench in the 66-19 win over Australia at Mt Smart Stadium, in the first Test on South African soil, a 52-20 win in Johannesburg, and in the 28-14 win over France in Lyon.

In Edinburgh on 19 September, Hansen made a host of changes for the Black Ferns' first Test in Scotland, and Robinson got her first start, packing down at loosehead with Palu at tighthead and captain Georgia Ponsonby at hooker. The Black Ferns scored ten tries and won 66-14. The NZ Herald's report said the two props were "solid in the starting roles, anchoring a strong scrum".

She was back on the bench at Twickenham, where England won 26-19 with an interception at the death, the only loss of the year. She was not in the 23 for the 81-12 win over France in Hamilton, came off the bench in Whangārei for the Black Ferns' 150th Test, a 31-12 win, and was on the bench again in Christchurch on 31 October for the last Test of the season.

That night she scored. The Black Ferns led 17-7 early in the second half when replacement first five Hannah King broke through a gap deep in French territory and was pulled down without support. The forwards kept going, and in the 57th minute Robinson, in NZR's words, came "crashing over from close range". Braxton Sorensen-McGee converted and the Black Ferns went on to win 36-7.

Ten Tests, nine wins, one try.

Standing

The judgements on Robinson so far come from the people who have picked her and the people who have watched her. Matatū's profile describes a powerful prop with "strong set-piece ability and high work rate", and NZR's describes her as one of the country's exciting young front-row prospects, known for power and work rate. Published interviews with her are hard to find, and the most detailed public account of her path comes from the staff news pages of the company she works for.

What is next

Robinson turns 26 in June 2027. The Black Ferns open that year against the Wallaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Anzac Day, 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), which match World Rugby's records for her.