Santo Taumata: a World Cup winner at 19, and back in black 1,379 days later

Santo Taumata was a 19-year-old tighthead prop, about three years into rugby and two years out of school, when she won a World Cup with the Black Ferns at Eden Park in 2022. Then came a broken hand, a ruptured knee ligament and almost two years without a game. On 22 August 2026, 1,379 days after that World Cup final, the prop from Te Puke ran back on for New Zealand. Every one of her 13 Tests has been played off the bench in the No.18 jersey, and the Black Ferns have won 12 of them.

Te Puke

Santo Taumata was born on 5 February 2003, by World Rugby's record in Tauranga, and raised in Te Puke, where she went to the town's primary, intermediate and high schools. She is proud of her Samoan heritage, and at Te Puke High School she was a cultural leader, heavily involved in the school's Pasifika events. Netball was her sport for most of her childhood. She wanted to play rugby, she told the Bay of Plenty Times in 2022, but "felt I couldn't because it was a boys' sport".

When she did switch, she gave up netball, and at first rugby was something on the side. The girls' coach at Te Puke High encouraged her, and she played in the backs, at centre.

Rangiuru and the Volcanix

She left school in 2020 and joined Rangiuru, which the Bay of Plenty Times describes as one of the region's strongest women's teams, because it was local and she knew some of the players. It was Rangiuru team-mate and Black Fern Kendra Reynolds who suggested she move into the forwards, where she played No.8 for club and province, and then that she would go far as a prop. She found the front row more technical than No.8, which she has described as mostly running hard and pushing hard.

She was soon playing Farah Palmer Cup rugby for the Bay of Plenty Volcanix, and in November 2021 Chiefs Manawa named her for the first Super Rugby Aupiki season. She made her Aupiki debut against Matatū in 2022. At the 2022 Zespri Bay of Plenty Rugby Awards she was named the province's Farah Palmer Cup Emerging Player of the Year and Female Club Player of the Year.

The birth of a star

The call to the Black Ferns came while she was at work. She saw a missed call from Allan Bunting, her Chiefs Manawa coach, assumed it was about the Chiefs and was told she had made the squad for the O'Reilly Cup series against Australia. She thought at first it was a camp. "My heart kind of stopped for a bit," she said.

She was not in the 23 for the first Test in Christchurch, but before the second, Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith left little doubt about what he thought of her. "For a 19-year-old, she is phenomenal," he told RNZ. "We might just see the birth of a star." On 27 August 2022 at Adelaide Oval she came off the bench early in the second half, and a strong run soon after led to a try for Joanah Ngan-Woo as the Black Ferns won 22-14. She played the last 24 minutes of the 95-12 win over Japan at Eden Park a month later.

She was named in the 32-player squad for the home World Cup. "I didn't really believe it at first," she said, crediting senior front rower Luka Connor with checking in on her as everything moved so fast.

A World Cup, and a yellow card

Taumata came off the bench in five of the Black Ferns' six World Cup matches: the 41-17 opening win over Australia at Eden Park, the 56-12 win over Wales at Waitakere Stadium, the 55-3 quarter-final win over Wales in Whangārei, the semi-final against France and the final.

The semi-final, on 5 November 2022 at Eden Park, put her at the centre of its last moments. With the Black Ferns 25-24 ahead and time almost up, the television match official spotted a high tackle by Taumata on French hooker Agathe Sochat, right in front of the posts. She was shown a yellow card and France had a penalty to win the match. Caroline Drouin missed it, and New Zealand were through. A week later, in front of 42,579 at Eden Park, then a world record crowd for a women's international, Taumata came on again as the Black Ferns beat England 34-31 to win the World Cup.

Chiefs Manawa coach Crystal Kaua was effusive when Taumata re-signed for 2023. "Santo is a powerhouse!" she said, singling out her speed off the ground, "the smile on her face when she bunts someone" and her "freight-train tackles". In April 2023 Taumata was one of 34 players handed a full-time Black Ferns contract.

Two years away

It was the last Test she would play for almost four years. She broke her left hand in the 2023 pre-season and needed surgery to insert plates and screws, which cost her the whole Aupiki campaign. When she came back, she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament playing club rugby and was out for most of a year, according to RugbyPass, and Achilles pain held up her return for Bay of Plenty until late in August 2024.

She spent part of that time at home in Te Puke helping with Pasifika groups at Te Puke Intermediate and volunteering at her church. Chiefs Manawa kept her in their 2025 squad, announcing her "much-anticipated return from injury", but she was not part of the Black Ferns' 2025 World Cup campaign in England.

Matatū and the way back

For 2026 she moved south to Matatū, recruited, according to RugbyPass, by Whitney Hansen before Hansen became Black Ferns head coach. Taumata was named to start in the front row in the opening round, a 52-26 win over her old club Chiefs Manawa in front of 11,793 at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch. In round four, also against Chiefs Manawa, she was shown two yellow cards for high tackles and sent off, but Matatū held on to win 41-24 and stay unbeaten. Matatū hosted the final for the first time on 25 July, with Taumata starting at tighthead, and lost 21-28 to the Blues.

On 10 August Hansen named her in the Black Ferns squad for the rest of the year, the only Bay of Plenty player in it. When she was named on the bench for the O'Reilly Cup Test against Australia at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart, NZR called it "a highly anticipated return", and on 22 August she came on in a 66-19 win, her first Test since the 2022 final.

She played in five of the next six Tests, missing only the win in Edinburgh: the 52-20 win over South Africa in Johannesburg, the 28-14 win over France in Lyon, the 19-26 loss to England at Twickenham, and the home wins over France in Hamilton (81-12) and in Whangārei (31-12) in the Black Ferns' 150th Test. Hansen said her return was inspirational, and spoke of the discipline it had taken. On the day of the final Test, in Christchurch on 31 October, Taumata was ruled out after aggravating a neck injury, and Ngano Tavake took the No.18 jersey.

What is next

Taumata turns 24 in February 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.

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.