A roar of applause erupted from Allianz Stadium during the bronze final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup on Saturday, as legendary winger Portia Woodman-Wycliffe was subbed off at the 50th minute.
This marked the last time that Woodman-Wycliffe would grace the World Cup stage, not only for this campaign, but for the foreseeable future, as she came out of retirement to don the Black Ferns jersey once more for this World Cup.
Portia Woodman-Wycliffe international career
Like many of the Kiwis, Woodman-Wycliffe began her rugby career in the seven’s discipline, winning the Women’s Sevens Championship in 2012, and becoming the top try scorer at the 2013 Rugby World Cup sevens.
The same year, she debuted for the Black Ferns fifteens side against England, before going on to become the first Kiwi woman ever to break a half century of tries in one season, during the 2014 sevens circuit.
The accolades that her seven’s career has earnt doesn’t stop there, as she was awarded World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017.
Alongside this, she represented New Zealand in successive Olympics in 2016 and 2020, where they won silver and gold respectively. Woodman-Wycliffe was also the highest try scorer in 2016 Olympics.
After switching to focusing on 15s play after the COVID lockdown, the winger added another trophy to her silverware when New Zealand won the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2022, after they also hoisted the trophy in 2017.
Portia Woodman Wycliffe’s 50th try against Japan in the group rounds of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 officially marked her as holding the record for the most test tries in New Zealand rugby history, in the men’s or women’s disciplines.
Woodman-Wycliffe also holds the titles for the most overall tries across World Cups, as well as the most in a single tournament.
Portia Woodman-Wycliffe awards and honours
The Kiwi has been amply recognised as one of the best in the world across both disciplines.
She won World Rugby Sevens Women’s Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017. In the same year, she was also crowned Māori Sportswoman of the Year 2017.
She picked up further silverware in 2020, when she won the incredibly prestigious World Rugby Women’s’ Sevens Player of the Decade.
Most recently, she was awarded Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2025 for services to rugby.
Portia Woodman-Wycliffe World Cup 2025
Speaking on the impact that Woodman-Wycliffe had on the campaign, captain and fellow team-mate Ruahei Demant, described the winger’s influence.
“It’s hard to put into words what she has done for our nation, globally, for the game. A lot of our ‘why’s’ is to inspire the next generation to become Black Ferns - Portia is the only one of our team who has inspired teammates to pursue the black jersey.
The term G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) is thrown around a lot now - I think Portia’s on-field stats speak to that, but what a lot of people won’t know is the person that Portia is, the humility that she has. Regardless of the accolades hat she achieves, she’s authentic, she’s herself, she’s approachable - as a Māori she is such a massive role model for our young Māori girls and boys”.
Despite the applause and praise from the community and team alike, Woodman-Wycliffe was characteristically humble when asked about her response to the crowd clapping her off.
“I had no idea, looking at the field wondering what was going on - and realised ‘oh’, so no, it was amazing.
The winger is stepping back down from international rugby, after coming out of retirement for this year’s World Cup after finishing a season in the Japanese domestic leagues and reflected simply on her career drawing to a close.
“Proud of my career, proud that I can be an inspiration for some of the young girls who are coming through, really excited where women’s rugby goes on from here.
I hope maybe post this [World Cup] what I go into [is] how do I help the women’s game, how do I give back to the community that’s given me so much”.
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