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Maiakawanakaulani Roos: The Black Fern living by her name
To get an insight into Maia Roos, the person and the player, you perhaps first need to understand her name. Her full name.
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Maiakawanakaulani has an origin story as beautiful as you’d expect. Its provenance is Hawaii, its translation “warrior whose light shines through the heavens”, and its literal embodiment is that bright shaft of light you see peaking through the clouds on a rainy day.
It points to her somewhat complicated birth, a fighter from day one, but also lends itself to someone who’s happy to let her light shine on others.
At age 23, Maiakawanakaulani, who happily goes by the shortened version, has become one of the most important figures in New Zealand rugby.
A self-described “heart leader”, she’s also a warrior on the field, with an engine and grit that belies an almost cherubic face; it’s not uncommon to see her with a hint of a smile, even in the heat of the most rugged battle.
Her numbers are staggering. As she prepares to lead the Blues into this weekend’s Super Rugby Aupiki final, Roos is yet to miss a minute of the 21 matches played in the short history of the competition.
Predominately a lock who also covers blindside, since making her test debut for the Black Ferns off the bench against England in Northampton in 2021, Roos has played in 29 out of 30 tests and the last 23 consecutively.
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When, aged just 21, she led the Black Ferns against the USA in the Pacific Four Series in Ottawa in 2023, Roos became their youngest-ever skipper, and she seems to be a New Zealand captain in waiting.
But Roos says there have been times when she hasn’t felt ready to be thrust into the leadership spotlight at such a young age and still just “wants to be a kid”. Having shared the Blues captaincy with Ruahei Demant last season, Roos has been the sole skipper for the defending champion Blues in 2025. She was initially reluctant when coach Willie Walker asked her to take on the job.
“At first, I said no, and then I said I’d think about it. Then, I thought, what a wasted opportunity it would be if I were to say no and just stay comfortable. So I have been very uncomfortable this year; it’s been such a growth period, and I’m grateful for the overall leadership group who do so much already that my role pretty much hasn’t changed. It’s just the pressure I put on myself,” she says.
After overcoming that initial reluctance, taking on the captaincy by herself has allowed Roos to figure out her leadership style.
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“I think I’d categorize myself as a heart leader. I love connection and I think, under pressure, that’s what separates me from some other people in high-performance environments…instead of looking into myself, I like to connect with others, and that’s really important, especially in high-pressure moments.”
Black Ferns coach Allan Bunting has often spoken about “heart performance” instead of high performance, believing if you capture the first, the second will follow. It’s an idea that resonates with Roos.
“The phrase I really like is ‘they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’, and connection on and off the field is such an important value to the Blues.
“I love getting to know all the girls in the team, what makes them tick, how they like to play, about their family, what they did on the weekend, and all that stuff. I think those little things just make a person feel valued.”
Roos laughs that talking to and importantly, learning when to speak to the refs is “like its own language” and is an area of leadership that has been the steepest learning curve, but she’s also been leaning on others to help her find her feet.
The Black Ferns leadership group of Roos, Ruahei Demant, Kennedy Tukuafu, Katelyn Vahaakolo, Ruby Tui, Renee Holmes, Georgia Ponsonby and Alana Bremner have been catching up regularly over the past two months despite playing against each other throughout Aupiki.
She says that has helped with practical skills, seeing what others are doing as leaders and how to find the right words in the heat of the moment.
“I’ve learned that as a leader, I can create the space for others to say what they see, so I take a breath and then hand it over to our defensive or attacking leaders to work through what happened.
“I’m learning to mediate the conversations and then come up with a simple solution; I don’t have to be talking all the time, so it’s about making sure there’s not too many voices under pressure when everyone’s a bit fizzed up.”
The heat of the moment is where Roos thrives. She says she’s not “psycho competitive”, but loves a challenge, figuring out answers and helping her team find a way out of a jam. Her seemingly relaxed attitude to competition seems to be a key as to why she can play such big minutes in a physically combative position. She has a willingness to get up and go again and again.
“I honestly just love being better every time, and I love the opportunity to be better as a team, to see if we can exploit the opportunities that we missed last time. I love winning, but even when the Black Ferns have lost a few games, I’ve never felt down because I still love playing, and I can see what we’ve learned after those losses.”
With only a six-round Aupiki competition and a crossover game between the champions and the winners of Australia’s Super W (the Waratahs and Reds also meet in the final this weekend), the domestic season on both sides of the Tasman is nearly finished before it’s really started.
Aupiki teams only assemble on the Thursday before a match, and while every player in the competition is paid, it means the nationally contracted, full-time professionals work in regional hubs for part of the week. While Roos agrees it’s far from ideal, she’s seen a big uptick in the level of Aupiki this year.
“The skill sets, physicality and free-flowing game have grown so much. You can tell that the work in the hubs is being done and that’s going down to the girls who aren’t fully professional yet, so it’s really cool to see professionalism grow even with girls who aren’t at that stage.”
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While Roos’ Blues have been the team to beat all season and will go into Saturday’s final as favourites, it’s been a different story for the Black Ferns since winning the World Cup in 2022.
A first-ever loss to Canada followed by a second-ever defeat to Ireland left them with a four-win-four-loss record last season and a slip to third in the world rankings. As the World Cup title defence looms once more, she’s positive they’re making good strides and the carrot of going to England is driving higher standards.
“I’m looking forward to the competition within the team. Over the last few years, we’ve built such good relationships that we want it to be hard and we want each other to be better,” she says.
While in nearly every mind Roos is a shoo-in for the squad, she’s more circumspect. “I love playing in the black jersey, I think it is one of the greatest honours, and if I’m able to get that opportunity again this year, it’ll be so special so, that’s what I’m looking forward to – the opportunity to play again and play with all my friends”
It’s a simple outlook on what can be a high-pressure job, which can throw young people into a sometimes extreme spotlight. Roos can often be found riding her bike or longboard in the local park in the same area of Auckland she grew up in, and she likes to draw or scribble as a way to chill out. Her family and community remain central to all she is and does, and her “why” never changes.
“I play rugby because I love to have fun with my friends and that’s always been the reason,” she says. “It’s what keeps my game ticking, and when things seem hard, I still just play for the love of the game.”
The hint has always been in the name. Maiakawanakaulani Roos: a warrior whose light shines. See also: a leader.
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Why are womens rugby players such tiddlers? A lock at 1.78 m tall and 85kg? Even the all conquering english squad have just one player above 1.8m tall Basketball and even netball have some very big women, some well in excess of 2 m tall. How come rugby cant attract some of them?