Mia Anderson: the Kerikeri loose forward who knew at four what she wanted to be

Mia Anderson knew what she wanted to be when she was four years old. Growing up in Kerikeri, she played rugby from the time she was a little kid and copied her rugby heroes. It took until 11 April 2026, at Heart Health Park in Sacramento, for the loose forward to become Black Fern No.268, almost two years after she was first named in a Black Ferns squad and three years after she stepped away from the game to have her son. She has played eight Tests since, and the Black Ferns have won all eight.

Kerikeri

Mia Te Rere O Te Maku Sophia Anderson was born in Kerikeri on 4 March 2002 and went to Kerikeri High School. "I've played rugby since I was a little kid," she told RNZ in 2025. "Obviously, this has always been the dream."

She was playing senior women's rugby while still at school. In 2019, as a 17-year-old Kerikeri High student, she made her Farah Palmer Cup debut for Northland Kauri. "I played for Northland first while I was at school," she said, calling herself "a really proud Northland girl".

Waikato and Chiefs Manawa

The following season she moved south to Hamilton, where she studied business and sport science at the University of Waikato, and made her debut for Waikato. NZR lists her club as Kihikihi. In 2022 she made her Super Rugby Aupiki debut for Chiefs Manawa, against Matatū, in the competition's first season. She scored a try that year, and Chiefs Manawa won the inaugural title.

A year away

Anderson was not available in 2023. She was on maternity leave, and she came back part way through the year to play for Waikato in the Farah Palmer Cup. By the end of the season she had forced her way into the first Black Ferns XV, the new second national side.

Chiefs Manawa had kept faith with her. She later called it "a pretty big deal" that the club signed her straight after she had a baby, and said everyone "chipped in to make it work". Coming back, she said, gave her a different outlook: "I have a whole new respect for the other mums in the team."

2024: the breakout

Back at Chiefs Manawa in 2024, she had what the Waikato Herald called a standout season. She scored in a 20-22 loss to Matatū in Christchurch in the last round, and in the final at Eden Park on 13 April she started at blindside flanker and scored in the 54th minute to put Chiefs Manawa 15-5 ahead. They led 18-5 before the Blues came back to win 24-18. At the club's awards night Anderson won the Fans' Player of the Year and shared the Players' Player of the Year with Kennedy Simon.

That July she was named in a Black Ferns squad for the first time, for the O'Reilly Cup Test in Australia, after what NZR called "a blockbusting Sky Super Rugby Aupiki season and impressive showing in Black Ferns camps". She travelled to Brisbane but did not win a cap. In October she re-signed with Chiefs Manawa, and the next day won the Farah Palmer Cup with Waikato, 27-25 over Canterbury at FMG Stadium Waikato, in front of what she described as possibly a record provincial crowd for the ground. Early in that final a jinking run took her to just short of the line, and Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu scored from the ruck that followed.

"She is one of the most dominant ball carriers in the country," said new Chiefs Manawa head coach Dwayne Sweeney when she re-signed. "Mia is an asset within any team."

Waiting by the phone

In 2025 she scored for Chiefs Manawa in a 27-7 win over Hurricanes Poua and was again in the Black Ferns' July squad, with a Test debut possible. The call, RNZ reported, did not come entirely out of the blue: "I was at home, I had been waiting by the phone all day, hoping."

For the 5 July trial she was named at blindside for the Black Ferns against the Black Ferns XV at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei. It was not a Test, but it was a homecoming, and she said there would be a big group of family there and "a loud fan club". She also admitted she was still in awe of team-mates she had watched on highlight videos as a kid. "I'm really excited to show what I can do," she said, with the World Cup in view. She did not make the 33 for England.

Black Fern No.268

The new head coach, Whitney Hansen, picked Anderson in her first squad in 2026, and named her on the bench for the Pacific Four opener against the USA in Sacramento. She came on in a 48-15 win as one of four debutants, alongside Tara Turner, Justine McGregor and Maddison Robinson. She was a replacement again in the 36-14 win over Canada in Kansas City and the 40-5 win over Australia on the Sunshine Coast that retained the Pacific Four title.

The Aupiki season, played in the middle of the year, brought three more tries for Chiefs Manawa, including two in the 26-42 loss to the Blues in Whangārei. She was named in the squad for the rest of the year with three caps, came off the bench in the 66-19 win over Australia in Auckland, and was handed her first Test start at blindside flanker in Johannesburg on 5 September, when the Black Ferns won their first Test in South Africa 52-20.

A week later, in Lyon, she started again and scored her first Test try in a 28-14 win over France, with Justine McGregor, Mererangi Paul and Liana Mikaele-Tu'u also crossing. In Edinburgh she started at No.8 in a 66-14 win over Scotland.

Then came the setbacks. She hurt a calf on the northern tour and missed the Twickenham Test, stayed with the squad in New Zealand while her return date was worked out, and was then ruled out of the 150th Test in Whangārei with concussion, according to NZR's team announcements. She came back into the starting side at blindside for the final Test of the year, the 36-7 win over France in Christchurch on 31 October.

That made eight Tests, four starts and one try. New Zealand Rugby's figures show the Black Ferns have won every game she has played for them.

Standing

NZR's profile describes her as a prominent performer for Chiefs Manawa in 2024, with the Black Ferns selectors watching her closely that season. Anderson's own view of her comeback is simpler. Returning to sport after having a baby, she said, "puts everything into perspective".

What is next

Anderson turns 25 in March 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 in September they host the first British and Irish Lions Women's tour, with Tests in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The 2029 World Cup follows in Australia.

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. Chiefs Manawa appearances and tries for 2022 and 2024 are from the Waikato Herald; later Aupiki tries are from Wikipedia's season records.