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'Hit out of my hands': Black Fern Jorja Miller on try blunder in Vancouver
By Finn Morton
It’s easy to forget that Jorja Miller is only a teenager. The Black Ferns Sevens star having shown maturity and skill well beyond her years during this season’s World Series.
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Heralded as a star of the future, the former national dance champion has taken the Women’s World Series by storm – and she’s far from done.
At just 19 years of age, Miller has already become a core part of the Black Ferns’ success on this season’s circuit.
Miller is getting better every time she dons the black jersey, but has had to learn some tough lessons along the way.
Playing in the Cup final against fierce rivals Australia in Vancouver last month, the teenager bombed a certain try midway through the first half.
The New Zealander split defenders Sariah Paki and Teagan Levi, and ran behind the posts for what appeared to be the first points of the decider – but clearly she was unaware that Maddison Levi was hot on her heels.
Levi, who has a background in Australian Rules Football, managed to punch the ball out of Miller’s hands. Captain Sarah Hirini was able to score about 10 seconds later, so really there was no damage done.
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For such a young talent, moments like this can either make or break athletes. But Miller couldn’t help but laugh as she reflected on the blunder last weekend in Hong Kong China.
“Honestly I don’t even know what happened,” Miller told RugbyPass at Hong Kong Stadium.
“All I heard was Stacey go. ‘Put the ball down’ and I turned around was like, ‘What?’
“Then the ball got hit out of my hands but lucky enough the girls were there and then we scored straight away.”
Miller has only played 36 matches for the Black Ferns Sevens so far, and has 15 tries to her name.
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While the teenager is expected to have a brilliant future in the game, she’s already created history in the coveted black jersey.
Playing at last weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens, Miller was part of the first ever Women’s World Series stop at the sports traditional home.
The Black Ferns didn’t concede any points throughout the pool stages, and charged into the final against Australia.
Miller started for the World Series leaders, and played a crucial role in their history-making 19-12 win over their arch rivals.
“The girls have worked really hard for this and to get one over the Aussies again, it’s pretty special,” she said.
“Both teams know that it’s always going to be a tough match and we always fight it out until the end which is really special.
“We talked about it during the week, the team that came here in 2000 and now to be able to do this and win it, it’s been awesome.”
The Black Ferns Sevens are on the cusp of World Series glory. Having won five of six tournaments on this season’s circuit, the New Zealanders are expected to wrap up the overall title in Toulouse next month.
