'Selection doesn't get easy... I am gunning for my team'

Omitted from New Zealand's tournament squad, Ruby Tui is starring on TV instead - and still a Black Ferns diehard fan

- Sarah Rendell

Ruby Tui was the player everyone was talking about when New Zealand's Rugby World Cup squad was announced last month but not for the reason fans may have expected. The 33-year-old had not made the squad but, as is her nature, Tui is determined to turn her omission into a positive. "I do want young players to know selection doesn't get easy," she says. "But also it is team first, always and 100% of the time, especially when it's hard."

The star of New Zealand's 2022 World Cup-winning squad, who has also won Olympic gold and silver, and the Sevens World Cup, Tui was squeezed out by competition in the back three with Ayesha Leti-I'iga and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe getting the nod. While acknowledging that being left out was difficult, Tui's focus is firmly on supporting the Black Ferns.

"Everyone can be team first when it's easy," Tui says. "I think it is a cool opportunity for me to say I totally love and respect this team, which I absolutely and wholeheartedly do. I support everything. I am gunning for my team. I want players who are struggling with selection to see that and know you do get to a point where you are OK with it."

"I have played for New Zealand since 2012 and I have won a World Cup, I have won an Olympics, I feel like it could have been a lot harder for other people. I am not the only one who didn't make the team, I felt like there was a lot of hype around me but that doesn't [mean it] hurt any less or any more.