“Ultimately, I want to have babies by the end of next year,” 33-year-old Portia says. “But retiring from New Zealand rugby after the Olympics has given me opportunities to try new things. And at the top of my list was Japan.
“There were opportunities to go to different places. But I want to enjoy being at home for now, then go to Japan and explore all the opportunities that go with that.”
There’s been loads of postulating over her subsequent step because the double Olympic gold medallist introduced her retirement – noises round enjoying skilled sevens within the United States, to switching codes to play in Australia’s NRLW league competitors.
“I like keeping everyone on their toes,” Portia laughs. “Apparently, I’m playing for the Warriors… who knows?
“But I also want to go back to playing netball – social netball – and social touch. Dad [All Black Kawhena Woodman] finished playing rugby, club rugby, when he was 55, so I think I’m going to be the same.”
But there have been just a few key the reason why she selected to play XVs rugby with the Mie Pearls first.
“Leading up to the Tokyo Olympics, the Black Ferns Sevens went to Japan every year for five years and I loved it; the people and the culture. To give Kaia this experience, to take Renee to Japan for the first time, it’s a win-win situation. Doing it all together is the best thing,” Portia says.
“New voices, new people on the field – I’m usually pretty good at picking up languages – so I’m excited for the challenge.”
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s identify is, in fact, synonymous with sevens rugby – topped the world’s prime girls’s sevens participant of the 2010s decade, she gained three Olympic medals and two Commonwealth medals within the code. But she’s been an equally dynamic XVs winger, successful two World Cups and holding the report for probably the most tries scored in a Black Ferns check match (eight towards Hong Kong on the 2017 World Cup).
The Pearls have had a powerful Kiwi connection lately. Black Ferns Sevens captain Sarah Hirini performed sevens with the membership final 12 months throughout a sabbatical from her New Zealand Rugby contract. And triple New Zealand worldwide (Black Fern, Kiwi Fern and kickboxer) Janna Vaughan is head coach of the Pearls.
“When Sarah played over there, she raved about the community, the environment and the girls… the whole club was amazing,” Portia says.
“With Janna Vaughan at the helm of the coaching staff, I lived with her – in Kelly Brazier’s ‘halfway house’ for sevens players – and I played alongside her for a while, so I’m really looking forward to working with her too.”
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe can be okay with having her spouse instructing her what to do on the sphere: “She’s done that our whole rugby careers.”
Renee Woodman-Wickliffe gained three World Cups over 13 seasons, earlier than retiring from worldwide rugby after the 2022 World Cup victory at Eden Park. Her teaching credentials embrace being the assistant coach function on the Bay of Plenty Volcanix in final 12 months’s Farah Palmer Cup.
But she nonetheless will get to drag the boots on – she turned out for the Blues of their profitable Super Rugby Aupiki season this 12 months, and on Saturday she returned to her roots, enjoying at centre for the Thames Valley Vixens of their 48-10 victory over Wairarapa Bush within the Heartland competitors.
“Retirement is just a word. Last season I was coaching the Volcanix and ended up selecting myself and playing. I tell everyone I don’t have itchy feet, when I actually do,” Renee Woodman-Wickliffe laughs. But she will’t see herself on the sphere in Japan.
She’s following within the footsteps of Olympic sevens gold medallist Kelly Brazier, who took her spouse Talia and two sons to Japan, the place she coached the Brave Louve sevens facet in 2023.
“I’ve played alongside Japanese girls and I’ve coached a few in the Bay of Plenty Volcanix. They’re beautiful people, really respectful, and they listened to everything I said,” Renee Woodman-Wickliffe says.
She performed check rugby within the backline proper subsequent to Vaughan, a pacy wing, who joined the Mie Pearls as a sevens participant in 2018. Vaughan is thrilled to have each Woodman-Wickliffe girls concerned along with her membership.
“Portia’s on-field accolades speak for themselves,” she says. “Her experience within the game will be a huge asset to the team and the wider Pearls club. But more than this, I know she’s a great person with a huge heart and a valued teammate – who I’m just pleased I don’t need to tackle ever again.
”Having Renee signal with us as an assistant coach is the icing on the cake. Her wealth of data and rugby IQ is invaluable and she’s going to play a pivotal half for our marketing campaign and successful the nationwide title this season. Her capacity to attach gamers and convey constructive connections and tradition to the environment can be vital.
”We are the luckiest membership on this planet.”
Mie Pearls common supervisor Hisashi Saito says the membership feels honoured to signal two Black Ferns legends.
“Pearls’ motto is ‘From our home city Yokkaichi to the world’ and in order to raise the team to a more global level and for the development of women’s rugby in Japan, we’ve been aiming to acquire the world’s top players. It’s a great honour to have world-class individuals like Portia and Renee join the team,” Saito says.
The Woodman-Wickliffes, who’ve simply returned dwelling from a European vacation after the Paris Olympics, will dwell within the metropolis of Yokkaichi, within the Mie Prefecture. The PEARLS will initially compete within the Kansai regional XVs event earlier than enjoying within the nationwide championship.
While 11-year-old Kaia is discovering the concept of the transfer a bit “overwhelming”, Renee Woodman-Wickliffe says her daughter loves rugby.
“She’s very much into her own space of playing rugby, going to training and playing with friends. She’s been following us since she was a baby, and now she knows rugby is her sport, she’s excited about playing. She doesn’t really care what we’re doing,” Renee says.
“Her role model is [Black Fern] Katelyn Vaha’akolo, and that’s okay because we love her. She’s an amazing player and person, and she’s also real big on TikTok.”
Coaching may very well be the long-term future for the Woodman-Wickliffes, although Portia sees her function as extra of a abilities clinic coach.
“I don’t think I’m a team coach – that’s definitely Renee,” she says. “She’s so good at connecting with people, treating people as humans first, then rugby players, whereas I just get too stuck on the rugby.
“We have thought about eventually heading into head coach and assistant coach roles. But that’s a fair few years away – after maybe three or four babies.”
For now, Woodman-Wickliffe desires to pursue extra TV commentating and ambassadorships, and proceed enjoying sport – now that there’s a clearer skilled pathway for girls.
“Now we get to travel the world and experience it like you’ve seen the men doing for years,” she says. “You hear all these players going to France and Japan on big contracts and now we can have that experience, it’s really exciting.”
The United States already has the Premier Rugby Sevens competitors, however will launch its first skilled XVs competitors, the Women’s Premier League, in 2025; France is beginning a SuperSevens girls’s event this 12 months. And Portia has already expressed an curiosity in attempting her hand at rugby league.
“It’s just trying to decide which one you want most and which ones work for our whānau,” she says.
Adds Renee Woodman-Wickliffe: “I’m excited to just carry her bags and take the photos.”
This story was initially revealed at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.