Kaipo Olsen-Baker: The making of a Black Ferns powerhouse

Kaipo Olsen-Baker is World Rugby’s Women’s 15s Player of the Year for 2026. She has also been named ninth on RugbyPass‘ Top 50 Women’s Rugby Players list for 2026.

The barnstorming Black Ferns loose forward fended off challenges from England’s Zoe Harrison, Megan Jones, along with Canada prop DaLeaka Menin.

She is the seventh Black Fern after Monique Hirovanaa, Dame Farah Palmer, Carla Hohepa, Kendra Cocksedge, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, and Ruahei Demant to win the top gong.

For those in Gisborne who saw her playing football, rugby and basketball alongside future Black Ferns Renee Holmes and Kelsey Teneti, the accolade isn’t a surprise. Gisborne Herald reporter and local sports identity Ben O’Brien-Leaf recalls a young Olsen-Baker fondly.

“The thing about Gisborne is all our sport can turn into a street fight. Few stood taller than Kaipo. She was fast, strong, uncompromising and humble. The best invariably leave. We never leave them.”

She grew up in Rangitukia, two hours from Gisborne, where 1924 All Blacks Invincibles full-back George Nepia was from. Her upbringing wasn’t without adversity. When she was one, her father Jason passed away. Her mother, Gabrielle, later lost another partner and is partially paralysed on the left side of her body.

Sport was a release but there was some growing up to do. When she tried out for a New Zealand age group basketball team at 15 and didn’t gain selection, she impulsively quit. The big fish in the small pond “wasn’t used to disappointment.”

Manukura is an elite Maori sporting school in Palmerston North. They are currently the five-time reigning New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby champions. When a friend went for a rugby trial, Kaipo went too, and the friend missed out.

The Olsen-Baker family couldn’t afford the fees. They found a way to make it work. Olsen-Baker described Manukura as the best thing that ever happened to her. She was mentored by Black Ferns Kristina Sue and Rhiana Ferris [Black Ferns Sevens]. When she won World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year, she was quick to thank mum.

“I’m honestly lost for words,” she told reporters after a 36-7 New Zealand victory over France in Christchurch. “I feel shocked, proud, emotional; I think I feel all the emotions right now. But the first thing that comes to mind is my beautiful mum. She sacrificed a lot for me to be where I am today. I wouldn’t be the person, the player that I am if it wasn’t for her and the sacrifices she made for me.

“I just want to show all of the young girls that you can dream big and no matter how big your dream is, keep going for that, because it can come true one day.”

But few possess the combination of work ethic and power that Olsen-Baker boasts. Her excellence in 2026 helped the Black Ferns achieve 10 wins in 11 Test matches, their best season since winning the Rugby World Cup in 2022 and the second most victories in a single calendar year since 1989. Olsen-Baker featured in seven Tests.

It all started on April 11 in a 48-15 win against the USA in Sacramento where she had 11 carries for 45 metres, 10 tackles and a turnover.

The Black Ferns secured the Pacific Four Series title with a 36-14 win over Canada in Kansas City the following weekend. Olsen-Baker ran riot with two tries, 24 carries for 126 metres gained, 13 tackles and four turnovers. It was revenge for the Women’s Rugby World Cup  2025 semi-final defeat in Bristol, a game in which Olsen-Baker had a staggering 34 carries.

During Super Rugby Aupiki for runners-up Matatu, she scored a try in every round-robin game and was the only player to make more than 100 carries. She also ranked top tackler with 136.

The one-off Laurie O’Reilly Cup Test against Australia in Auckland on August 22 was the Wallaroos 100th Test, yet they were hammered 66-19. Olsen-Baker rampaged through 16 carries, two line breaks and 15 tackles.

Furthermore, World Rugby Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year Elinor-Plum King debuted for the Black Ferns on the openside. Olsen-Baker and King are close.

“I feel so grateful to be able to run out with Plum. We actually started at Manukura. I was a Year 13 when she was a Year 11. To see her growth in the game and as a person is so exciting,” Olsen-Baker said.

“Coming off Super Rugby, I was actually telling all the girls I’d rather play with you guys than against you guys because the physicality out there you could just see,”

The Black Ferns harder edge was almost good enough to topple world champions England at Twickenham in September. Olsen-Baker with 24 carries and ten tackles in a brave 26-19 defeat.
October’s understrength French tourists didn’t have the ammunition to stop Olsen-Baker. She scored a try in the 81-12 first-Test rout in Hamilton before leaving the field early in the 31-12 second-Test success in Whangarei due to a leg injury.

Unfortunately, injury has been a common theme in Olsen-Baker’s career. Fast forward to 2019 and she became a Black Fern after only three seasons of first-class rugby for Manawatu in the Farah Palmer Cup [FPC] and the Hurricanes Poua in the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki in 2022. All that despite an ACL injury in 2021.

On her Test debut against Australia in Tauranga on June 6, 2022, she showed her considerable potential by scoring a try when the score was 10-10. She burst 20 metres off the back of the scrum, casting aside several defenders in an electrifying run in torrential rain.

“To this day I think about that try and go Wow. I’d never played in weather like that before. I was drenched, my clothes making me heavier than I am,” Olsen-Baker laughed.

She followed her debut with a strong display the following week in a 28-0 whitewash of Canada. Olsen-Baker had every reason to be confident of Rugby World Cup selection but succumbed to a nasty foot injury before the tournament.

She returned impressively for Manawatu in 2023. En route to the FPC championship final, the Cyclones beat every team before losing narrowly to Northland in the decider. She was nominated for FPC Player of the Year and topped the FPC charts for most carries [113], most defenders beaten [69] and most offloads [26].

In 2024 she moved to Matatu for Super Rugby Aupiki and ranked inside the top ten for carries [59], metres gained [286] and offloads [9]. She regained her New Zealand jersey and was subsequently named Black Ferns Player of the Year following a series of rampant displays in an often difficult season.

The best compliments come from the opposition, and in a heavy 49-31 defeat to England in Vancouver in that year’s WXV 1, where the Black Ferns conceded the most tries they have ever conceded in a Test with nine, Olsen-Baker didn’t take a backward step. She made 10 tackles, 17 carries, while The Guardian waxed lyrical.

“Despite the scoreline on Sunday, New Zealand demonstrated the danger they present, particularly through the No.8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker, who had a sensational game… New Zealand made a ferocious start and repeatedly hit the English defensive wall. The pressure caused the Red Roses to cough up a penalty and the Black Ferns opted for a scrum. Olsen-Baker peeled away from the base and steamrolled Natasha Hunt – a fend reminiscent of Jonah Lomu running over Mike Catt in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.”

When Olsen-Baker was stretchered off the field with a suspected ankle fracture against Spain in York on August 24, 2025, it seemed her first Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign was over. Far from it.

The bulldozing No.8 was named Player of the Match in the 46-17 quarter-final win against South Africa in Exeter, scoring two tries and making seven carries for a total gain of 57 metres. Even more impressive was her mammoth tackle count of 26.

Her fearless approach came through in an on-field interview after the match. When asked how the Black Ferns intended to tame South Africa at halftime, she confidently responded: “Just AFD, which means all effing day.”

A hearty Olsen-Baker couldn’t prevent Canada from winning the semi-final, but in the 42-26 victory in the playoff for third against France, she had 15 carries and 13 tackles in a typically damaging display.

“I don’t think too much when I play. I observe what’s in front of me and react instinctively,” Olsen-Baker said. “I wouldn’t score tries or enjoy individual success without the support of my teammates. They allow me to play with confidence.”