Portia Woodman-Wickliffe

BIOGRAPHY

Portia Woodman is one of the most recognisable players in women's rugby. She was named World Rugby Women’s Player of the year in 2017 after finishing the World Cup as the top try-scorer in the triumphant Black Ferns campaign.

The dynamic wing added a second World Cup sevens title to her resume a year later - a rich reward for the leading try-scorer in HSBC World Sevens Series history.

The 2021 Olympic gold medalist has often been compared to Jonah Lomu.

“Just the thought people even compare me to Jonah or anyone else is huge. I am a long way off someone as great as him. I take that as a compliment.

Like Lomu, her absolute brilliance was best demonstrated in a World Cup semi-final. In 2017 she scored four tries against the USA, the first after 25 minutes when the score was 8-7. The 2018 Rugby Almanack reported:

“Woodman’s first try in the semi-final, against a powerful USA team, was a stunning 45-meter run during which she fended off three tacklers and evaded two more before scoring under the posts...Shortly after halftime, she scored again with the score advancing to 20-7, and the Americans' confidence was broken. Two more tries and the Black Ferns won 45-12. Woodman's brilliant individual try won the voting by Sky fans as the best try of the year.”

In December 2020 the try was acknowledged as the Women’s 15s Try of the Decade in association with International Rugby Players (2010-2019).

Earlier in the tournament she crossed a staggering eight times in the 121-0 thrashing of Hong Kong. After a quiet first-half she went berserk in the second crossing in the 49th, 59th, 70th, 73rd, 79th and 81st minutes.

She was the only female player selected by the respected Planet Rugby website in their First XV of the year.

Woodman was brought up in a rugby family. Her father Kawhena Woodman and uncle Fred Woodman were All Blacks. However spiriting and netball would be the first sports where she flourished.

In 1997 she shifted from Kaikohe to Auckland’s North Shore. Joining the Takapuna athletics club she was a sprinter and jumper at the national age-group level at Mount Albert Grammar School.

In netball, she was even more prominent earning a place in the Northern Mystics franchise for two seasons from 2011. Her aunty Te Aroha Keenan was a Silver Fern.

Woodman signed up for the Go for Gold program in 2012, a New Zealand rugby initiative to find quality athletes for Sevens with the Olympics in mind. Woodman graduated with a place in the national team winning two tournaments in Fiji and China.

In 2013 she signed an initial $20,000 sevens contract and later that year helped New Zealand win the World Cup in Moscow scoring a tournament-leading 12 tries in six games.

She also debuted for the Black Ferns in the 3-0 series sweep of England scoring tries in the Auckland and Hamilton tests.

She would next feature for the Black Ferns in 2016 enjoying five wins on the trot, including a 38-8 triumph over Ireland in Dublin where she scored a thrilling second-half hat-trick. In the space of 15 minutes, she took the game away from the hosts after the visitors had only led 5-3 at halftime.

It would be in sevens where Woodman would be at her most damaging. She has helped New Zealand win the HSBC World Sevens Series five times and finished the leading try scorer at the end of four seasons: 2012/13, 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2017/18.

She holds the record for most tries by a New Zealand Sevens player in a calendar year with 58 in 2018 and she was the top try scorer at the 2016 Olympic Games with 10 in seven matches.

Woodman has undoubtedly helped popularize women’s sevens. She told the New Zealand Herald in 2018.

“Now we stay in hotels where [rapper] 50 Cent stays, where F1 people go to parties. "It’s a far cry from the inaugural years where the women washed their own clothes in hotel rooms and lived on canned chicken, tuna and rice brought from New Zealand."

In November 2018 she seriously injured her left-achilles tendon, a setback which ruled her out of the entire 2018/19 World Sevens Series. Despite the setback in December 2020 she was named Women’s Sevens Player of the Decade (2010-19) by World Rugby and was chosen on the left wing, alongside seven other Black Ferns, in the Women’s 15’s team of the decade (2010-19).

Her legend grew in July, 2021 when she was a member of the New Zealand team that won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Yellow carded in the 2016 final she was overcome with emotion after the Black Ferns beat France 26-12 in the final.

“Looking back on Rio, that emotion of scoring the last try but still not being able to win the game, crying underneath the posts, is definitely one that I’ve looked back on. But now it’s gone. The bad memories will never be at the front of my mind again.”

Joseph Pearson on Stuff reported.

“Woodman’s desperate try-saving tackle on Alowesi Nakoci stopped Fiji from taking a shock lead in the final minutes. She had, inevitably, scored a rapid breakaway try in the semi-final, then those famous, powerful carries punched holes in France’s defence as the Kiwis got on top.”

Woodman joined legends like Barbara Kendall, Dame Valerie Adams and Lisa Carrington to win two or more Olympic medals.

Prior to the Olympics Woodman was the leading try scorer in a series of six matches against Australia and helped New Zealand win the Oceania Sevens in Townsville. Combining all three tournaments New Zealand won 17 of 18 matches and outscored opponents 377-101.

Her busy 2021 continued when she joined the Black Ferns on their UK/France tour. In her first test appearance since the 2017 World Cup final she scored two tries in an otherwise disastrous defeat to England. The Guardian noted.

“New Zealand offered some fightback (at 28-0) and Portia Woodman dotted down the best try of the match near the right touchline. It was just reward for an improvement at the breakdown and a rare period of blunder-free passing. It was not a sign of things to come.”

Woodman has only played 14 matches in the Farah Palmer Cup, but they haven't passed without drama. She debuted for Auckland in 2013 before switching to Counties in 2016 and helping the Heat win their first Farah Palmer Cup Premiership title. She scored four tries in the semi-final against Wellington and another try in the 41-22 win over Auckland in the decider.

In 2020 she scored a Northland record six tries against Taranaki and finished the season as the leading try scorer with nine.

A former teacher aide and daycare center worker she has undertaken a building apprenticeship and commentary for Sky TV while on the sidelines. She is engaged to fellow Black Ferns wing Renee Wickliffe. They have a daughter named Kaia.

Profile by Adam Julian