Wallaroos Player of the Year Tuinakauvadra returns from injury to spearhead Brumbies' Fiji trip

Tabua Tuinakauvadra is wasting no time in her comeback season. The Wallaroos Player of the Year has been named in the ACT Brumbies starting XV for their Super Rugby Women’s clash against the Fijian Drua at Four R Stadium in Ba this weekend, having only recently returned from a meniscus injury in the side’s defeat to the Waratahs.

The match is the first of what promises to be a landmark year for the 23-year-old loose forward. Tuinakauvadra has been confirmed as the first player announced under a new collaboration between Rugby Australia and England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), with a move to Leicester Tigers set to follow her Super Rugby Women’s commitments and the Wallaroos’ August schedule.

“I think the opportunity to play more rugby and also against teams that we don’t typically play is exciting,” Tuinakauvadra said at Canberra Airport ahead of the squad’s departure for Fiji. “Pac Four has been around for a while, and we play against the same four teams. Being able to have the opportunity to play on a different side of the world, and different teams, and to see where they are at in terms of their program is a great challenge and a great goal to have.”

For Tuinakauvadra, the PWR move represents a personal milestone as much as a professional one. “Especially coming back from my knee — it’s something that was always on the list to make,” she said.

Her return to the field against the Waratahs was far from gentle. The Brumbies went down 29-17 to the defending champions at Viking Park, though the side took encouragement from the performance despite the scoreline.

Beyond her own ambitions, Tuinakauvadra is energised by the growing depth emerging through Australian women’s rugby. The 22-capped international, who has been with the Brumbies since last year’s Rugby World Cup in England, has watched a wave of younger talent arrive in Canberra through pathways such as the NextGen Sevens program.

“I think you don’t really notice how many babies there are until we all sit down in a room and you’re like, wow,” she laughed. “Last year there was only Nu’a [Manu’a Moleka], and now there’s a good group of them that finished school last year. The depth that they’ve developed in the off-season is really exciting for what this program looks like in the next five to ten years. It’s just like a good burst of energy — sometimes you need the youth to keep you up.”

The Fijian Drua, meanwhile, are hosting consecutive Super Rugby Women’s home matches for the first time, making this weekend’s fixture a significant occasion for the competition as well as for Tuinakauvadra’s personal comeback story.