The Making Of A Champion

She is part of the New Zealand women’s rugby sevens team that recently won the World Cup. She is also a determined young woman who found refuge – and her own talent – in sport during tough times. Ruby Tui talks to Judy Bailey about hardships, mind-body balance, and the unique culture that has led her team to the top.

- Judy Bailey

The airport terminal was packed but I managed to find a seat and settled in to wait. The woman next to me looked exhausted; she’d just come off an overnight flight from the States and was heading home to Invercargill. We got talking. It turned out she is an international rugby coach and recruiter, obviously a pretty high-powered one. She asked what I did. “Have you ever interviewed any women rugby players?” she said. No, I hadn’t.

“You need to talk to Ruby Tui,” she told me firmly. “I’ll put you in touch.” And with that her flight was called and she was gone. The coach was Mere Baker. She’s a force to be reckoned with and a woman of her word. Not long afterwards I found myself in Tauranga talking to Ruby.

Ruby Tui is part of that dazzling squad of women rugby players that blitzed the field in the recent Rugby World Cup Sevens competition in San Francisco. She’s described as a powerful, aggressive prop.

In my ignorance of all things sport I was expecting a tall, muscle-bound woman; she is, in fact, like a finely honed racehorse – slender, medium height, not an ounce of fat, all power and competitive fire.

The Black Ferns Sevens, like their 15-aside sisters, have captivated the world with their free-flowing style and obvious joy in the game. One of Alan Bunting’s first moves when he took over as Sevens coach was to bring six of his senior players together to be his leadership team.

“I think that’s genius,” Ruby tells me enthusiastically. “He is transparent, he listens.”

Ruby is one of the key drivers of the team culture. She talks about their failure to bring home a gold medal at the Rio Olympics. “We lost the joy at the Olympics… we were entirely focused on bringing home gold. Now (after a change of coach) we are focused on culture. We play because we love it and we love each other.