Grace Gago
| Date of birth | 5 May 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | South Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Grace Gago (born 5 May 1998) is a New Zealand rugby union player. She plays for the Blues in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition and for Counties Manukau in the Farah Palmer Cup.
Early career
[edit]Gago was attending Manurewa High School when she was named Counties Manukau Rugby's under-18 girls' Player of the Year at the Junior Rugby Awards that was held in Pukekohe in 2016.[1] Besides playing for the Counties Manukau under-18s team, she also played for the Manurewa Wahine rugby league team and the Samoan under-18 tag team.[1] She also represented her school in touch and was also part of their football and first XVs team.[1]
Rugby career
[edit]In 2022, At the Counties Manukau Rugby awards Gago won the Players’ Player of the Year, Forward of the Year, and MVP of the Year awards.[2] She made her Super Rugby Aupiki debut for the Blues in 2023 in their first round loss to Matatū, despite scoring her sides first try, they narrowly lost 31–33.[3][4]
Gago was named among 34 contracted players for the Black Ferns in 2023 as they build toward the 2025 Rugby World Cup, it is her first fulltime contract.[5][6] She was named in the Black Ferns 30-player squad in June to compete in the Pacific Four Series and O’Reilly Cup.[7][8] She started in her international debut against the United States on 14 July 2023, at Ottawa.[9][10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Apted, Alan (19 October 2016). "Sport: Grace Gago named best female rugby prospect in Counties Manukau". Stuff. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "Gago shines bright on red carpet at season awards". Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "New players get Black Ferns contracts with 2025 the target". NZ Sports Wire. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ Wall, Jamie (25 February 2023). "Matatū pip Blues Women in outstanding performance". superrugby.co.nz. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "Black Ferns contracts revealed". RNZ. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "Black Ferns contracts announced for 2023". allblacks.com. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "First Black Ferns squad of 2023 named". allblacks.com. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
- ^ "Nine rookies named in first Black Ferns squad of 2023". NZ Herald. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
- ^ "PREVIEW: Black Ferns v USA (Ottawa)". allblacks.com. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
- ^ "Live updates: Pacific Four - Black Ferns v USA at Ottawa's TD Place Stadium". Newshub. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.