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Maia Roos interview: Becoming the youngest-ever Black Ferns Test captain
Maia Roos was born in Utah but migrated to New Zealand in 2009 when she was seven years old. Her mother Tia, from the Cook Islands, is a senior lecturer at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT), and her father Kevin a biomedical engineer.
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On Sunday Roos will become the youngest-ever Black Ferns Test captain, replacing Dame Farah Palmer, when she leads New Zealand against the USA in the final match of the Pac Four Series in Ottawa, aged 21 years, 11 months and 17 days. Roos can hardly believe it.
“It’s crazy. Farah Palmer is a legend of the game internationally. We play in the Farah Palmer Cup so to be alongside her is crazy,” Roos said.
“It’s special, a really huge honour. To capture the moment, I told my parents on video, that’s special too.”
“I captained my First XV at school, a bit of club rugby, but I don’t see myself as a captain, but I will lead how I lead and play how I play. I just go hard. I don’t know if that’s inspiring to anyone, but if it is that’s what I’ve got to offer.”
Black Ferns Director of Rugby Alan Bunting is clearly impressed by what Ross has to offer. The Black Ferns Sevens Olympic gold medal-winning mentor said.
“Throughout my time in the Black Ferns, Maia has been exceptional, a true professional both on and off the field and her presence is widely felt. A key member of our leadership group now, her daily habits and actions transition into consistent performance. She is a good human and is always looking out to help others. We have great confidence in her captaining the Black Ferns on Friday.”
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Roos appeared overwhelmed at the press conference that publicly announced her captaincy, but her background suggests she’s well-versed in leadership.
Alongside fellow Black Fern, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Roos still spends a lot of time at Tamaki College as a ‘community angel’ assisting troubled kids.
“Connecting with others was the point of difference I offered when I was head girl at T?maki College. I wasn’t the best academic or sportswoman, but I was involved in a lot of things. Liana and I go back to school to help out and provide a non-judgmental space for those who might be struggling,” Roos said in 2021.
Roos has far from struggled since becoming a Black Fern. In 2022 she was nominated for World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year following her immense performances at the World Cup.
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Roos was good enough to usurp Joanah Ngan-Woo as starting lock despite Ngan-Woo being the only Black Fern alongside Chelsea Bremner to feature in every test in the groundbreaking season.
At the World Cup Ross ranked second top Black Ferns tackler, topping the count in individual matches three times. Additionally, she was a plentiful source of lineout possession and a bustling ball carrier.
After 32 minutes off the bench in the first match against Australia, she topped the tackle count and scored tries in the 56-12 and 57-0 group victories against Wales and Scotland respectively. In the Scottish match, she also topped the carry count with 16.
She reserved her best performance for the 25-24 win over France in the semi-final. Again, she topped the tackle count with 12 and made 11 carries for a gain of 77 meters against the best defensive team in the tournament. Stuff NZ waxed lyrical:
“Enormous tackle on France number nine Pauline Bourdon saved a certain try in the opening stages – and that was just the start of her big night. Roos has been a Retallick-style figure in this Rugby World Cup and played the full 80 minutes in the semifinal. ”
Roos said afterward, “I never dreamt of a game like that, and we were lucky enough to be on the happy side of it. I was right in front of the posts when Caroline Drouin took the kick. If it bounces off the pole, I’m going to run hard. If she gets it, we’re going to go hard for the kick-off and score a try. We knew we had to rumble to the end.
“Sometimes our training is harder than the games. That really helps us remain calm under pressure. I’m proud of us for hanging on and staying together.”
Roos first played rugby in a mixed team at Glen Taylor intermediate school, but it wasn’t until she arrived at T?maki College that rugby became serious. She came under the tutelage of former Black Ferns prop Doris Taufateau, then in Year 12, she played for College Rifles and in 2019 was picked by another Black Fern Anna Richards to represent Auckland.
On the disastrous Northern Tour of 2021 where the Black Ferns lost all four tests to England and France, she was one of the few bright spots.
“Even though we lost to England, I felt more ready to play that game than any other I’ve played before. I was able to express myself in the small opportunity I got. France was a very challenging side, but I felt we got better as the tour went on. We needed to do better defending mauls, stop them with one fluid motion and good timing.”
Roos was in imperious form in the Pacific Four Series in June 2022. She made a telling break in the first Test against Australia which helped set up a try to make the score 15-10 to the Black Ferns, Australia didn’t score again. She played the entire 80 minutes in the next game against Canada too.
Roos will lead a side that features 11 changes from the side that beat Canada 52-21 last Sunday.
In other changes, Waikato loosehead prop Esther Faiaoga-Tilo and Counties Manukau hooker Grace Gago will start on debut for the Black Ferns, alongside Canterbury tighthead Amy Rule.
Joanah Ngan-Woo returns to join Roos as the starting locking duo. Following an impressive debut Canterbury’s Lucy Jenkins and Bay of Plenty loose forward Kendra Reynolds will start at six and seven respectively, while the formidable Liana Mikaele-Tu’u once again starts at number eight.
In the backs, Taranaki’s Iritana Hohaia and Canterbury’s Rosie Kelly earn their first start at nine and ten respectively. Midfielder Grace Brooker makes her long-awaited return to the Black Ferns jersey, starting alongside last weekend’s player of the match Amy du Plessis. A talented back three of Grace Steinmetz, Kelsey Teneti, and Tenika Willison will round out the starting fifteen.
Alan Bunting said, “As a team it is important, we continue to build our depth and our game foundations. I’m really proud of the growth in our group and after a tough travel week how our ladies fronted and responded to challenges, there is still a lot we can build on, good things take time.”
The Black Ferns have beaten the USA a dozen times in 13 Tests. The USA has lost to Canada (17-50) and Australia (17-58) in their opening Pac4 fixtures.
The Black Ferns against USA kicks off at TD Place Stadium at 8:00 am (NZT). At 21 years, 11 months and 17 days old Maia Roos will lead the charge.
Comments on RugbyPass
If he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to comments