TALL FERN TESSA'S BABY JOY 'I'D LOVE MY BOYS TO BE PROUD OF ME'

The basketball star and her rugby-pro partner are chasing their sporting dreams while raising a family

- Jo Bailey

Juggling international sporting careers with the demands of raising two young children is not for the faint-hearted. But with mutual understanding, and the support of a legion of family and friends, Tall Ferns basketball star Tessa Boagni and professional rugby player Ethan Roots are taking the challenges in their stride.

When Woman's Day visits Tessa, 27, and Ethan, 25, at their Christchurch home, the couple's adorable newborn son Benji is being doted on by his proud three-year-old brother Noah.

On a two-year contract with the Exeter Chiefs rugby team in the UK, former Crusaders and North Harbour player Ethan is back in New Zealand for a whirlwind two-week visit, between pre-season training and the start of the Premiership Rugby competition, to meet his new son and enjoy precious time together as a family of four.

Tessa rushed into Christchurch Women's Hospital at 1am on 21 July, and Benji was born less than two hours later, at 2.50am. By 6.30am, mother and son were back in the comfort of their Merivale home. Benji's speedy arrival meant that Ethan, who was in the middle of pre-season training in the UK at the time, nearly missed the birth all together.

"It wasn't until I came off the training field I realised I had missed a text saying Tessa had gone to hospital," recalls Ethan. "I raced into one of the coach's rooms and jumped on Face Time. Literally five or 10 minutes later, Benji popped out."

Tessa says her son's natural water birth was a "silver lining" after suffering with hyperemesis gravidarum - the severe morning sickness that famously struck the Princess of Wales - throughout both pregnancies. With Noah, Tessa also had a difficult birth that left her mostly confined to sitting or lying down for three months.