Sarah Hirini

EVENT: Rugby Sevens - Women

Sarah Hirini is one of the leading rugby sevens players in the world.

The current New Zealand Sevens captain has an impressive list of accolades to her name including Sevens World Champion in 2013 and 2018, three-time Olympic medallist (Gold Paris 2024, Gold Tokyo 2020, Silver Rio 2016) Commonwealth Games gold and bronze medallist and seven-time World Series winner. Hirini’s game is characterised by her tireless work-ethic and dogged defence. In 2019 she became the first female player to bring up 200 matches on the World Series.

Hirini is one of several international rugby players who went to Feilding High School, and she has proudly won five National Sevens titles with Manawatu.

Outside of sevens, Hirini was a member of the 2017 and 2022 Black Ferns that won the Rugby World Cup, she was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019 and became the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Tom French Memorial Maori Player of the Year. She also became the second female to win the Kelvin R Tremain Rugby Player of the Year award in 2021.