LONG READ ‘This one is about me’: Portia Woodman-Wickliffe targets fairytale ending in Paris

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has spent her career winning. Every victory has been about repaying her parent’s sacrifices, each individual accolade about inspiring others. But now, as her last dance looms, the most decorated women’s rugby player of all time has found a different source of motivation.

“I am really looking forward to being, I don’t know how else to say it, my own inspiration,” Woodman-Wickliffe said ahead of attempting to land a second successive Olympic gold at her swansong tournament in Paris.

“In the last season, it’s been about me. I wanted to get to the Olympics and be in the best possible state, the best possible physical condition that I could be in and I think I have done really well in that.

“This one is about me.”

‘Nothing too crazy’ the key for Black Ferns

To ensure her extraordinary career ends with a triumph over arguably the strongest field ever assembled for a women’s sevens tournament, Woodman-Wickliffe knows the Black Ferns must find a consistency in Paris that has proved elusive this season.

With pre-season being ‘all about the body’, it was no surprise to Woodman-Wickliffe that the defending Olympic champions were a bit ‘undercooked’ at the start of the 2024 HSBC SVNS Series.

Second, third and fifth in the opening three stops, however, was too much for the squad to swallow. The players came together and found something that makes Woodman-Wickliffe quietly confident about Paris.

Pure pace and power from Portia Woodman-Wickliffe 💪 pic.twitter.com/HeJepnsaYA

— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) April 8, 2024

“We set our targets to play simple rugby, get it wide, allow our strike runners to carry as many people (as they could) and create gaps,” the winger-turned-prop explained. “That was our mentality, play simple rugby, nothing too crazy. It worked.”

The Black Ferns won the next three SVNS tournaments, and then defeated Australia at the final stop in Singapore to claim the league title by two points.

“That’s how we see it, looking towards the Olympics, to bring a more simple and accurate game,” the 32-year-old said. “For me, I am happy to carry about three or four people, create a ruck and then we can spread the ball wide to Michaela (Blyde) who can score 100m tries.”

Predictable Australia difficult to stop

To defeat Australia in the Olympic final on 30 July in the Stade de France is the dream. Not that Woodman-Wickliffe is under any illusions about the scale of that task. After their Singapore disappointment, the Aussies hit back by defeating the Black Ferns 21-19 in the semi-final of the SVNS Grand Final in Madrid.

Both teams know exactly what is coming at them.

“A lot of their players have come from a touch background and their skillset to read the game, to play with the ball, allow the ball to move and manipulate people is really amazing,” said the woman who was named Sevens Player of the Decade in 2020.

“Australia have this one move that I guess we all know. They love to spread it wide, hit a cut and then hit it short. We know what they are going to do – but they still kill us with it sometimes.”

Dangers lurking everywhere

The threats will not just be wearing green and gold shirts either. A resurgent Canada side also defeated New Zealand in Madrid and the two will meet again in the pool stages in Paris, where the dangerous Fiji will join them.

Add on the “really strong runners” of the USA and it is no wonder Woodman-Wickliffe states, “no game is going to be easy”.

A sevens World Cup winner, as well as a double 15-a-side world champion, the Auckland native really has won it all. But lining up against the Olympic hosts in a full Stade de France would be something even she has never experienced.

“France in France would be far out, with 65,000 cheering for them, that would be amazing. Winning but having no crowd, no family in Tokyo (at the 2020 Olympic Games) was very different,” Woodman-Wickliffe said before turning her attention to the dangers the French pose.

“They are swarming on defence. Attack, relentless. You think you’ve got them in contact or in the tackle and then they pop out some miracle ball and offload it and they’ve got an 80m run to the tryline.

“They play some unreal, unpredictable games. Hard to analyse because you don’t know what they are doing.”

Fun times key for a golden goodbye

Despite all of that, the soon-to-be retired Woodman-Wickliffe is adamant that, if New Zealand can “claim the moments” and “find consistency” in a way they failed to do in Madrid, another Olympic title is theirs to grab.

There is one more thing the first international sevens player to score 250 tries reckons she and her teammates need to find in Paris.

“We’ve got to have fun,” she said, laughing. “Stacey Waaka, the smiling assassin, is always looking like she is having fun. Michaela Blyde, as serious as she is, is having fun when she is scoring tries, smashing people, chasing people down.

“The reason why we play the game is having fun and trying to beat everyone else. I am so competitive, I love beating people and when I do, I am having fun.”

Do that and the woman who added 30,000 Instagram followers on the day she announced her plan to retire from international duty in Paris may just get the finish her career deserves.

“The exciting side (of retirement) is I have nothing; I have no expectations. It’s exciting, it’s a little bit nerve-racking but I like that pressure point where it’s a bit of both,” Woodman-Wickliffe said, adding, “To finish on a fairytale ending with Olympic gold, with my sisters, my wife, my daughter, mum and dad in the crowd would be amazing.”