FRIENDLY FIRE – Black Ferns star Maia Roos speaks!

Maia – aka Maiakawanakaulani – Roos is one of the latest New Zealand stars to join Trailfinders, alongside Georgia Ponsonby, Alana Borland and now Tanya Kalounivale.

The Black Ferns star spoke to Helen M Jerome about her decision to fly north and throw herself into the rough and tumble of the PWR and Trailfinders.

Still only 24, but with 38 caps already under her belt, Black Ferns lock Maia Roos is literally one to watch.

Roos has also been captain of her country – their youngest ever – and like many of her countrywomen, she delighted us with five appearances in the Rugby World Cup this year, helping the Kiwis win bronze at a sold-out Twickenham stadium.

Trailfinders head coach, Barney Maddison clearly knows he has a new gem to add to the club’s collection of Black Ferns. “They bring a lot, the Black Ferns that have come over so far.

“They’re not just good rugby players, they’re really good people, and that’s a massive part of it.

“Their level of professionalism is outstanding, and I think a lot of players have learned a lot of stuff off them already.”

On Roos, Maddison says: “Maia brings a high degree… with her line-out knowledge, how physical she is around the park and her work ethic.

“I’m a big believer in work ethic in the games, and Maia’s got massive amounts of that.”

Maddison doesn’t think we’ll see any more Black Ferns joining this season though. “There’s a good group of them here at the minute and I don’t think it’s going to grow as such anymore.

“We’ve obviously we’ve had a few injuries and these girls want to come play rugby and we’ve got the opportunity for them to play so it’s been really cool.”

They’re contracted with Trailfinders for several months, which works with their block in New Zealand. But, as Maddison explains, they are also still contracted by the Black Ferns, so they must head back down under for the Pacific Four. But for now the players and the club are relishing every moment of their time together.

Maia Roos is far too cool to blush when hearing the praise her head coach is heaping on her. So it’s easy to spot her black eye, and I have to ask her about it…

Maia, it looks like you’ve got a bit of a shiner there on your eye. Was that from last weekend?

It was just a straight boot to the face. Friendly fire as well. One of our own team.

What sold you on coming to Trailfinders – presume you spoke to a lot of the other Black Ferns and the others who’ve joined like Liana at Harlequins and Amy in Exeter. And now Ruahei Demant at Bristol. How did you all get persuaded to come over?

A few of the Kiwi girls, Alana, Georgia Ponsonby, when I was talking to them, they said they’d been looked after so well by Barney and the team.

So an opportunity presented itself.

And the location is pretty prime, pretty close to central London.

So yeah, I was right on the plane as soon as possible.

Is the deal that you are here for the season, and you go back out? How does it work?

I’m here until the 31st of March.

That’s when the girls go and break for the Six Nations.

Then I’ll go back, hopefully make the Pac Four (Pacific Four) series, and then I’ll be home for then.

What do you feel, Maia, about the competitiveness of the PWR?

Yeah, I think the fact that the season is so long and there’s so many games it gives teams a chance to actually build and grow and learn week to week.

And that makes better teams.

The structure where everyone’s basically… not full time, but can train three solid times a week, get a good game, get stage reviews.

That will help towards growing the professionalism of the game.

And there’s so many internationals here that the standard is so high.

I think that’s what makes the competition so good.

Can you take the experience of playing teams across the PWR back into New Zealand and vice versa so both benefit from this?

Yeah, 100%.

And I think just the consistency of weeks helps us as players learn how to prepare for a game week, whether that’s international level, PWR level or super rugby level back home.

Were you already talking to Barney when you were playing here in the World Cup?

No, I went home not thinking anything.

I actually didn’t think that coming over to the PWR was an option with the way that New Zealand rugby was going.

But I guess when we came third, their minds kind of opened up and now we have the opportunity to come over and play rugby when at home we’d just be running broken broncos [high intensity training] right now.

When I spoke to Liana at Quins, she was saying how much she enjoyed cross-cultural things, her synergy with Aoife Wafer, even though they come from completely different backgrounds. I wondered if there are particular players at Trailfinders that you’ve struck up a rapport with?

Yeah, Abi Burton’s been really cool, and Meg Jones!

They’ve been so welcoming.

The girls from Wales.

It’s been so cool to figure out and talk to them about what they do in their environments.

Haidee (Head), she’s one of my flatties. She’s from Aussie, one of my southern sisters.

She’s been fun to muck around with.

Yeah, they’re all a good time down here.

What do you look forward to in a game like Loughborough?

Yeah, I think just an opportunity to play another team.

They’ll play different style than the Tigers played, and so that’s exciting.

They have a couple of Red Roses in there in the forward pack, and so I’m looking forward to going head-to-head with them as well.

They have Lilli (Ives Campion), she’s a lock, and so it’ll be cool to play with her and chat to her after the game as well.

I really like that you absolutely go for it, your face tells that story. Then at the end, you’re all just chatting as if you’re having cups of tea.

Yeah, it’s pretty cool.

The culture is good.

Would it be the same back in New Zealand?

Yeah, really similar.

We’re all mates.

The competition serves more the pool of girls, so we all basically know each other, so it’s always friendly after the games.

Is there anything that surprised you about playing in England?

The cold has just been a shock to my system.

It is very warm in New Zealand right now, so the cold has been my shock.

When I arrived it was snowing!

I imagine back in New Zealand right now, your friends are sending you pictures of them wandering along the beach?

Yep. They are.

Are the younger Kiwi players tempted to come over here as well?

Maybe next year onwards, I think there’ll be more girls looking for more opportunities, but I think the window is so short now.

If they come back at the end of January, then they can only play February, March, and that’s like seven games.

With Braxton Sorensen-McGee and Jorja Miller, a lot of people would turn up just to see them play. I don’t know whether you have any influence on them?

They’re amazing. They’re my friends.

We have chatted about it and the opportunity that there is to play over here is so tempting.

Maybe if they have a break from sevens, because their seven series is obviously on right now, then it’s a beautiful place to be.

I hope it’s a really good game this weekend and the weather is good enough for you, Maia.

Thank you.

And stay away from the Loughborough boots if you can.

Yeah!

Photos: Trailfinders, Instagram