Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a: from Sacred Heart sevens to seven tries against France in her first Test season

On 17 October 2026 at FMG Stadium Waikato, the Black Ferns put 13 tries past France, and four of them belonged to their 20-year-old right wing. A year earlier, on the same ground, Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a had scored the try that won Waikato the Farah Palmer Cup. In between came a season in which she beat more defenders than anyone else in Super Rugby Aupiki, and a Test debut in which, soon after coming on, she charged down a kick in her own in-goal and ran the length of the field to score. By the end of the three-Test series against France she had scored seven tries.

Hamilton schooldays

Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a was born in August 2006, according to World Rugby's records, and is of Sāmoan heritage. She went to school in Hamilton, and PMN has reported that her first sporting dream was to become a Silver Fern.

Rugby found her at Sacred Heart Girls' College in Hamilton. RugbyPass has reported that while still a junior she played in the school's senior sevens team, which finished second at the Condor Sevens national secondary schools tournament, and that she decided on the way home that rugby was what she wanted to do. She kept playing netball until Year 11 and then committed to rugby.

Sevens and a setback

She was part of the New Zealand Under-18 Girls Sevens team in 2022 and 2023, RugbyPass reported, and New Zealand Rugby's profile notes that she came through the national under-18 sevens programme. She later moved to Hamilton Girls' High School, and both schools' rugby programmes helped shape her, according to her New Zealand Rugby profile.

In 2024, while still at Hamilton Girls', she was picked for the Waikato Farah Palmer Cup squad, but she was injured in a pre-season match and the setback cost her a year, RugbyPass has reported.

A title-winning try for Waikato

She made up for lost time in 2025. Playing for the Melville club, she made her Waikato debut and scored five tries in five games, three of them starts on the wing, according to rugbyhistory.co.nz. RugbyPass listed wins over Bay of Plenty (88-5), Hawke's Bay (60-17) and Auckland (36-29) among them.

Waikato were defending champions, and on 4 October 2025 they met Canterbury in the Premiership final at FMG Stadium Waikato. Early in the second half Canterbury's defence held her up in the corner. With less than ten minutes left she had another chance, unmarked on the right flank, and this time she scored. Kaea Nepia's sideline conversion gave Waikato a six-point lead, RNZ reported, and Nepia's cover tackle in the dying seconds secured a 19-13 win and a second straight title. Tuliau-Tua’a was 19.

Chiefs Manawa

In 2026 she played six games of Super Rugby Aupiki for Chiefs Manawa. It was a hard season for the club, which lost all six of its games, but RugbyPass's season numbers put her at the top of the competition for defenders beaten (28), metres gained (626) and offloads (12), and third for tries, with five. Two of those came in one game against the Blues.

In the last round, a 47-33 loss to Hurricanes Poua at Maidstone Park, superrugby.co.nz described her as "electric", with five line breaks. She scored a try and later made a weaving 60-metre run, ending with an offload, that set up a try for Holli O'Sullivan.

A Black Fern at 19

Whitney Hansen had already brought her into the Black Ferns squad for the Pacific Four Series in April. RugbyPass reported that Hansen took her on that tour knowing she would not play, so that she could learn what a professional environment was like, with the plan of giving her a game later in the year.

That game came on 22 August 2026 against Australia at Go Media Stadium in Auckland, where she made her debut alongside Elinor-Plum King and Amarante Sititi. She came off the bench early in the second half and soon charged down a Wallaroos kick in her own in-goal, gathered the ball and ran the length of the field to score, New Zealand Rugby reported, taking the Black Ferns to 59-7 in a 66-19 win. She was 19, and playing at home mattered: she told PMN it "feels good to be at home and play". "I've got my family and friends here so it's cool," she said.

She was not in the 23 for the Test in Johannesburg. In France she came off the bench in the 28-14 win in Lyon, and a week later she made her first start, on the left wing, in the 66-14 win over Scotland in Edinburgh. She was not named for the Test against England at Twickenham.

Seven tries against France

Back home for three Tests against France, she started on the right wing in Hamilton. The Black Ferns led 43-0 at halftime, and she scored her four tries in the second half as they won 81-12. New Zealand Rugby's season review said she "delighted her home crowd". It was her fourth Test.

A week later in Whangārei, on the left wing, she made a tackle that knocked the ball loose to stop one French attack and then dived over out wide for the try that gave the Black Ferns a 14-12 halftime lead. They pulled away late to win 31-12.

Against France in Christchurch on 31 October 2026 she opened the scoring in the corner, finishing a move that RNZ reported began with a no-look overhead pass from No 8 Liana Mikaele-Tu'u. After halftime she scored again in the far corner, from passing that RNZ credited to prop Chryss Viliko. She was later sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, and the Black Ferns kept scoring without her to win 36-7 and complete a 3-0 series sweep. Her seven tries made her the Black Ferns' leading try-scorer of the series.

Standing

Hansen has spoken warmly of the young players she brought in during 2026. "They bring a great sort of fresh enthusiasm into our group," she said after Tuliau-Tua’a and Sititi debuted, as reported by PMN. Captain Ruahei Demant said the two young Pasifika players were becoming role models for their communities.

Tuliau-Tua’a has named several people who have helped her, RugbyPass has reported, among them her Waikato coach Reuben Samuel, her Black Ferns team-mates Mererangi Paul and Ayesha Leti-I'iga, and Hansen.

What is next

She has played six Tests and scored eight tries. The Black Ferns play the Wallaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Anzac Day 2027, and then host the British and Irish Lions Women in three Tests: Auckland on 11 September 2027, Wellington on 18 September 2027 and Christchurch on 25 September 2027. Tuliau-Tua’a turns 21 just before the tour begins.

Career at a glance

Provincial figures are from rugbyhistory.co.nz (RugbyPass counts four Waikato appearances); Aupiki figures are from RugbyPass and Wikipedia's season record. Test figures are from World Rugby's match records and New Zealand Rugby team lists.