| Date of birth | 20 May 2002 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| School | Columba College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Otago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Jamie Joseph (father) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Maia Joseph (born 25 May 2002) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays at first five-eighth and halfback for Matatū.
Joseph is the daughter of Mandy Joseph and rugby union coach and former player Jamie Joseph. [2] [3] She began playing at under-5s level for Pōneke in Wellington. [4] She grew up in Dunedin where she was educated at Columba College and played club rugby for University and Dunedin. [2] [3] She studied medicine at the University of Otago, but placed her studies on hold when offered a full-time contract with New Zealand Rugby in 2024. [4]
Joseph played for Otago Spirit, making her Farah Palmer Cup debut for the Spirit in 2020 playing at first five-eighth. [5] She played for the Chiefs Manawa in the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki competition in 2022. She won the Fiao'o Faamausili Medal FPC Player of the Year at the ASB Rugby Awards in December 2022. [6]
Torn ACL and MCL knee ligaments ruled her out of Super Rugby in 2023, but following rehabilitation she went on to play for the Black Ferns XV. [2] She then made her debut for Matatū where she transitioned from first five-eighth to halfback. [7] [2] She was named the Matatū’s rookie of the year at the end of the season. [8] [9]
Joseph trained with the New Zealand rugby sevens team in July 2023. [10] In April 2024, she was given a full-time contract by the New Zealand women's national rugby union team. [8] [11] [12] She started in her test debut against the United States in the Pacific Four Series on 11 May 2024. [13] [14]
The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournaments.
Belinda Louise Colling is a former New Zealand netball international. Between 1996 and 2006, she made 92 senior appearances for New Zealand. She captained New Zealand at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and the 1999 World Netball Championships and was a member of the New Zealand teams that won gold medals at the 2003 World Netball Championships and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Colling is also a double international and played for the New Zealand women's national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. During the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup era, Colling played netball for Otago Rebels, Canterbury Flames and Southern Sting. She also played for Team Northumbria in the Netball Superleague. In 2022, she was included on a list of the 25 best players to feature in netball leagues in New Zealand since 1998.
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