Santo Taumata ruled out of Black Ferns' France Test two months after ending four-year injury absence

Santo Taumata has been ruled out of the Black Ferns’ third WXV Global Series Test against France in Christchurch on Saturday after re-aggravating a neck injury, ending a brief but celebrated comeback that saw the tighthead prop return from 1,379 days out of international rugby just two months ago.

Tavake Ngano, who earned her first Test cap against Scotland last month, steps off the bench into the No.18 jersey as her replacement in the matchday 23.

Taumata, still only 23, had been absent from the international arena since 2022, when she debuted against Australia at just 19 years old. She made her long-awaited return during the O’Reilly Cup against Australia in August and had since featured against South Africa, England and France before the latest setback.

Black Ferns head coach Whitney Hansen, who first recruited Taumata to her club side Matatu before succeeding Allan Bunting as national team coach, paid tribute to the prop’s determination during her years on the sidelines.

“She was 19, a baby back then, and it was spectacular that she went into that World Cup as the second-best tighthead that we had in New Zealand at that time,” Hansen said. “Between then and now, she had suffered some really significant injuries. It’s so hard to come back from that. You’re often on your own in those spaces.”

“She has just worked so hard to be where she is today and continues to do that. She’s up at 6am doing extra bike sessions. She is conscious of every single choice she makes and is an amazing role model to everyone else who is serving the jersey.”

New Zealand head into Saturday’s match chasing a tenth win from eleven games in Hansen’s debut season at the helm, having suffered just one defeat across the campaign. Taumata joins Atlanta Lolohea (ankle), Tara Turner (concussion) and Kaipo Olsen-Baker (ankle) on the injury list for the Christchurch fixture.