Portia Woodman

What strikes me about Portia Woodman is how completely she rewrote what a women's rugby star could be. Winning World Rugby Player of the Year honors in both fifteens and sevens is rare air, and her netball background clearly sharpened the spatial awareness and footwork that make her tries look inevitable. I admire athletes who don't just win but expand a sport's visibility, and Woodman did exactly that for the New Zealand game. There's a quiet ruthlessness under the highlight reels, a finisher's instinct that can't be coached. I'll keep watching how her legacy shapes the next generation.

Name (English)

Portia Woodman

Name (Japanese)

ポーシャ・ウッドマン

Reading

ぽーしゃ・うっどまん

Born

July 12, 1991 (age 35)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Goat

Origin

Kawakawa, New Zealand

Occupation

rugby union player / rugby sevens player / netballer

Awards & achievements

• 2017 World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year
• 2015 World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/porshwoodman/
• Xhttps://x.com/portiawoodman
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia%20Woodman
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A6%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19877046

Tags

• rugby union player
• rugby sevens player
• netballer

Last updated

2026-06-20

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.