Renee Holmes

BIOGRAPHY

Black Fern #221

Renee Holmes represented New Zealand in four sports before her 21st birthday. After ventures in football, taekwondo and ultimate frisbee she switched to rugby aged 16 and cracked the Black Ferns for the first time in 2020.

Her introduction to the oval ball followed a football shafting. The midfielder and striker was easily the best player in Gisborne, good enough to be picked for the New Zealand Under 17 squad which forced a brief relocation to Auckland. Her return to the East Coast caused a right stink.

“I was playing in the women’s league and with due respect the competition wasn’t suitable. There were few facilities and the games weren’t of a very good standard. I moved to Auckland to train and play in the National league with the New Zealand Under-17’s. My parents were paying an extra $350 a week in rent which was ridiculous. I missed my whanau so I came home, got approval to play in the local men’s competition and my team won our first game. The opposition complained because I was a girl and the result was overturned. My team even had to pay a $200 fine. It hurt, so I quit.”

She had dabbled previously in Sevens - captain of an intermediate team which won a prestigious tournament. In pursuit of playing fifteens she joined Hastings Sports Club.

“I’d finish school an hour early and commute from Gisborne to Hastings three times a week. Sometimes there would only be five players at practice but I loved it and got MVP in my first season.”

Her father Laurie was employed in logging and drove a bread truck, also serving as a taxi driver to and from training and games for his daughter. “It’s crazy how far my dad Laurie has driven. I’d hate to think about the petrol bill. Sometimes we’d just have noodles for tea. I got pretty familiar with UB40 and reggae on those trips.”

Soon Holmes would feature for Hawke’s Bay in the Farah Palmer Cup. The Tui didn’t win any of the five games Holmes featured in but her form was honourable, with Black Fern Krysten Cottrell an early mentor.

Another Black Ferns role model, Les Elder, persuaded Holmes to join the Bay of Plenty in 2018, where again she acquitted herself strongly in four losses.

She switched to Waikato in 2019, where her form has been startling in 17 games swapping between wing and fullback. She scored a vital try in a memorable 34-28 victory over Counties in her first season and in 2020 and 2021 helped Waikato make the Farah Palmer Cup final. She didn't play the 2021 decider which was won 22-20 by Waikato.

“Waikato is the best thing that’s happened to me. I felt the connection right away and I liked the way we play and the depth we’ve built.

“My favourite game was against Auckland last year at Eden Park. We managed to win and I scored a try. I later found out the Black Ferns selectors were there looking at me.”

Holmes started and completed 80 minutes in the 19-17 win over the New Zealand Barbarians in Nelson. First-half tries to prop Pip Love (two) and hooker Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate were enough to secure the Black Ferns a tense victory.

Her test debut was in the Black Ferns 100th international, a 12-43 loss to England. Holmes' brave defense essentially saved New Zealand from conceding three tries. The Guardian reported.

“It might sound greedy to suggest England should have scored more than seven tries but they had the chances to do so. By the end, though, they had inflicted the biggest defeat the Black Ferns have suffered – the previous record margin was 21-7 against England a decade ago – and showcased both the fitness of the home forwards and their increasing depth behind the scrum.”

Holmes caused tension for opponents in taekwondo. She was an intermediate Māori and National Champion when based in Christchurch, two levels away from achieving a black belt. Her older sister Talah is a black belt and was potentially good enough to make the Olympics.

In 2016 Homes was the top point scorer at the Under-20 Women’s ultimate frisbee championships in Poland. She scored 42 times in 8 games for New Zealand Kahu and was named runner-up MVP for the tournament to the Colombian captain, out of 900 athletes competing.

“At Gisborne Girls’ we picked a team to compete at an ultimate tournament and went away, competed and I got asked to play in an Auckland regional team [no Gisborne team] and then made the New Zealand team. That was a long, hard-working campaign, but it paid off as we finished fifth after being ranked 21 going into the tournament.”

She also made a splash in Ki o Rahi (a traditional Māori game) - selected in the New Zealand secondary schools team in 2017 after Gisborne Girls HS finished third at the national tournament in Papakura. Sports commentator and Gisborne identity Ben O'Brien Leaf is unsurprised by Holmes' success.

“I remember Renee when she was at Gisborne Intermediate and she was starting to make a name for herself as an athlete. With broad shoulders, grace, speed and intelligence it’s little surprise she’s achieved so much. She's always had a spark and is very sweet personally too. Her father was a good cricketer and football player.”

Profile by Adam Julian