MAD FOR IT. Why Red Roses Maddie Feaunati adores the Six Nations

Maddie Feaunati tells Helen M Jerome why she loves the Six Nations – and how much this ‘kind of a diva’ enjoys playing for the Red Roses and her PWR club side Exeter Chiefs. Plus what her one and only matchday superstition is…

You could say that rugby is in Maddie Feaunati’s blood. Moving from Yorkshire to Wellington, New Zealand when she was just a kid, she grew up steeped in rugby culture, her father being none other than Samoa international and Bath legend Zak Feaunati (who also played Jonah Lomu in the movie Invictus).

So Maddie Feaunati could have chosen to play for the Black Ferns or Samoa, but instead she opted for the Red Roses. For which every England fan is no doubt grateful. And Exeter Chiefs supporters are also pretty pleased she joined them three years ago, and she’s been a vital part of their hugely successful season in the PWR this year.

But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Feaunati’s Chiefs teammate, the USA Eagle Gabby Cantorna. “The thing about Maddie is she’s unique in the fact that she works really hard, she takes care of her individual business, she’s a great team player… but she’s also kind of a diva!”

Cantorna says she really enjoys working alongside Feaunati. “I like that she makes other people better by doing her job, but I also respect that she has her own personality and flair that she brings through so she’s a great player to have on your team.”

In fact, Cantorna’s only caveat is that she really wouldn’t want to play against her “because the way she tackles and carries is quite threatening.”

I was lucky enough to speak to Maddie Feaunati before the start of the 2026 Six Nations, and this is our conversation…

What does the Six Nations as a competition mean to you?

It’s a super exciting competition, especially to me personally.

It’s where I made my debut versus Italy a couple of years ago now.

And it’s always good to be closer.

Obviously, we were super fortunate to have a home World Cup, but just playing close to home.

It’s an exciting tournament full of history.

And it’s a really big privilege to be a part of.

It’s an exciting tournament full of history.
And it’s a really big privilege to be a part of.
maddie feaunati on the six nations

Are there particular nations you look forward to coming up against?

Lots of teams now that I know a lot of the girls, obviously, through the PWR.

So it’s super exciting because you know someone now in every team.

Not particularly, no. But I do enjoy the Italy game because, again, it’s the team I made my debut against.

So it always means something more.

And also you have Francesca Granzotto at Exeter now,?

Yes, now who I know, who I didn’t know before.

So yeah, it’s super, super fun.

Do you still get goosebumps when you run out, and there’s a big crowd, and they have got considerably bigger. When you run out with England or with Exeter Chiefs, how do you feel?

Yeah, it’s super exciting.

You always want to play in front of big crowds and obviously for big games as well.

So yeah, it brings me a lot of excitement when we’re warming up and there’s people constantly walking in.

It just makes the atmosphere so much cooler.

I was reading that when you were younger – I mean, you’re still young now, obviously – you could have chosen between England, New Zealand or Samoa because of your dad.

I wonder, was there one crucial thing that made you decide on the Red Roses?

I think it was the way that the environment suited me.

I’m huge on where I thrive as a player and I think I found where I fit in best and where I get the best out of myself.

So yeah, that probably edged it for me.

I’m huge on where I thrive as a player and I think I found where I fit in best and where I get the best out of myself.
maddie feaunati on choosing to play for the red roses

Does that mean your dad doesn’t talk to you now?

No, not at all!

He’s super supportive of the Red Roses and obviously growing up here, England rugby was a massive part of his career.

So yeah, he’s my number one supporter.

Do your sisters play?

Yes, my younger sister, Zara, and she’s just coming back from her ACL injury.

So I’m excited for her to hopefully follow wherever she wants to. To get back into rugby and get playing again.

She’s based in New Zealand at the moment; she’s still just coming back from her injury at the moment and just seeing how that goes.

It’d be good if she came back over here, wouldn’t it?

Yes, yes. That would be really cool.

I’m guessing you gave her a little bit of a push towards that.

Yeah, like she was over here, and then she did her ACL here.

So obviously for her it wasn’t as good as an experience as you wanted it to be.

I think now she’ll understand as an athlete what she needs for herself going forward.

Looking at your club, Exeter Chiefs, could you tell me a bit more about their identity and what that means?

I think it’s obviously all about up front as a pack.

We back ourselves.

We back ourselves in the backs as well to make decisions.

And then I guess just as a group, we know how close we are and how tight we stay together.

We all just stand on that.

Exeter have probably overachieved in a lot of games. The only one where you were blown away was away at Saracens, would you agree?

Yeah, definitely.

We definitely didn’t turn up on the day.

Individually, we can all take responsibility for that.

But obviously, we came back, we learned from that.

When you look forward to playing PWR teams, maybe like Trailfinders, who do you look forward to coming up against?

Obviously there’s a bunch of Kiwi girls in there that I’m excited to play.

I haven’t really played them before.

But Meg Jones, they have class all around the pitch.

So yeah, I’m always excited to play obviously teammates that I know.

And then a few girls that are from overseas.

When you have like big breaks, such as bye weeks, so you have almost two weeks off, how does it affect you? Does it make you stronger or is it harder to get back in the swing of things?

I guess each team can take it differently.

You can either come out of those super well trained and prepared.

Obviously they’ve had an extra week to prepare just for our game and also had a week off to rest.

So I guess you can come back flying and it can really bring cohesion to your team or you can use your first game to get back into it.

So obviously we’re prepared for anything and just focusing on ourselves.