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Tyla King opens up on NRLW ‘change’ and reasons for SVNS return
Tyla King isn’t going to forget the last week of October anytime soon. After helping New Zealand win their first rugby league Test over rivals Australia in seven years, the two-time Olympian jumped on a plane from Melbourne with Paris set as her final destination.
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King, 29, attended the prestigious World Rugby Awards at the Paris Garnier less than 24 hours after the Springboks’ thrilling triumph in the men’s Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France.
The New Zealander was one of four nominees for World Rugby’s Sevens Player of the Year accolade after a stellar campaign with the Black Ferns Sevens before leaving the sport for rugby league.
King – whose maiden name is Nathan-Wong – was granted a release from her contract with New Zealand Rugby to pursue an opportunity with the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRLW.
Teammate Michaela Blyde, Australia’s try-scoring machine Maddison Levi and Fiji’s Reapi Ulunisau were also nominated for the award, but King was crowned the world’s best that night. The playmaker became the fifth New Zealander to claim the women’s sevens honour.
But if you search ‘Tyla Nathan-Wong’ on Google, she’s still listed as a ‘New Zealand rugby league player.’ Tyla King is one of the biggest names in sevens, but with three tries in nine games for the Dragons, the New Zealander was also briefly one of the standouts in the NRLW.
“I absolutely loved it. I’ve been in this game for what, this is my 13th year now so since I was 16 in this team and in this environment so I definitely needed a bit of a change,” King told RugbyPass at the SVNS Perth on Sunday.
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“Go out (and) have a different environment, a different coach and just rejuvenate myself and bring some of that energy into it all and it definitely did that.
“Going to the Dragons, linking up with Jamie Soward and the girls there, being right by the beach.
“I didn’t have any intention of representing our country New Zealand in the Kiwi Ferns but it ended up happening. An absolute honour being able to do that and represent the Kiwi Ferns and our country.
“That was pretty cool, a special moment too – especially that win against Australia though, in old Melbourne, that was pretty cool. Then jumped on the plane to the World Rugby Awards not long after.
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“It’s good to be back with the sevens crew, fighting my lungs again in this beautiful Perth weather.”
King revealed that she would be “back in black” in 2024 with an Instagram post in December. The comments were filled with hundreds of fans celebrating the superstars’ return.
The season started in Dubai and Cape Town without King, but the goal-kicking ace was back in action during last weekend’s SVNS Perth at HBF Park. It’s the start of King’s journey to potentially a third Olympic Games.
But that’s just one goal. With plenty of “little things” that she wants to tick off, King fended off the idea of staying “in league” by donning the Black Ferns Sevens’ jersey once again.
“That was always the original attention,” King said. “I didn’t know, though, I was just going to leave it open.
“I could’ve just absolutely loved it and stayed in league but I had a few small things I still wanted to achieve in the sevens jersey and obviously playing under the King name was one of them.
“Obviously (the Olympics) is there,” King added. “That’s the pinnacle of most sports… to able to achieve that goal again of going to my third Olympics and hopefully going back-to-back with that gold medal, being the women’s team to do so, that would be a pretty incredible moment.
“But at the same time there are little things that I want to tick away at over these next few tournaments; obviously get those lungs back, keep building the combinations with the girls and continue to represent my whanau (family).”
Next up for King and the Black Ferns Sevens is an event in Vancouver from February 23 to 25. Those interested in watching some of the world’s best rugby while enjoying the best party in town can get tickets HERE.
Comments on RugbyPass
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
235 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
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