With her impending retirement, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s whānau has amassed in Paris to watch her play in her final Olympics.
“We really want this to be special for Portia, special for the Black Ferns,” said her proud pāpā Kawhena Woodman.
“They’ve been so good at carrying aspirations of whānau, and Aotearoa, in their competitions.”
Portia’s dad is emotional when asked what it means for him and the whānau to be in France. They went to the 2016 Olympics in Rio to cheer her on, but Covid meant they had to watch her and the team win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games from afar.
“To be here again sharing that opportunity with other families as well that we've got to know over the duration of a world series and three Olympic events.
“We've just been so happy and so excited to be here.”
Ahead of the Black Ferns’ opening matches the Woodmans teamed up with co-captain Sarah Hirini’s own whānau to tackle the subway system on their way to the venue. The two family groups seamlessly navigated the warren of tunnels, sporting black and white clothing with Woodman and Hirini on many of their backs.
Conor Hirini, Sarah’s husband, shows off his specially designed black-on-top, white-on-the-bottom diagonally-split-by-a-stylised-fern singlet. The name ‘Hirini’ is splayed above a number five.
“There's about 20 of us wearing these singlets,” he said. “So yeah, a good crew, a good squad, lots of friends and family. We're ready to go.”
He said his wife has put in a lot of hard work in the last six to seven months to get here, so he’s pretty pumped “to watch her and the rest of the girls get stuck in”.
“Watching her run out later this afternoon is gonna be pretty special,” he said.
It’s the same for the Woodmans. They’ve come out in force too.
“There's around about 12 of us staying [close together], and there's another eight staying around Paris. So those are Portia's aunties and uncles, and cousins, who have come over with us - and nephews as well,” said Kawhena.
An ex-All Black and ex-NZ Māori rugby player himself, he said he's always given the same encouragement to his daughter, handed down from his time in the game.
“When I was playing rugby my coach had his team talk with all of us. He was telling everybody what to do and they got to backs and they said, 'pass the ball out to the wings, and Kawhena, you catch that ball and run like...’heck’.
“Which wasn't heck, actually, it was a swear word.
“So we've always said to Portia, just “darling, please, just catch the ball and run like 'heck'.”
Sage advice seems to run in the family. Young nephew Kaharau said it’s a privilege to be in Paris “to watch Aunty play” and he hopes she has a good game.
“If her team doesn’t win, I don’t mind, as long as she has a good time while she plays and has a couple of good runs, that’s all that matters.
“It's not about winning, it’s about giving it your best.”
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