'Best for me': Why sevens star chose Great Britain over Black Ferns

Sevens star Isla Norman-Bell has opened up about her decision to play for Great Britain on the Women’s World series after growing up in New Zealand.

In some ways, Norman-Bell is the one that got away for the Black Ferns Sevens.

The England-born talent moved to the small rugby-mad nation at the bottom of the world when she was two, and later emerged as future star of the game.

Norman-Bell played at the prestigious Red Bull Ignite7 Rugby Seven’s competition in 2018, and was named the tournaments MVP. Soon after, the rising star was included in the Black Ferns Sevens’ development team.

Clearly, Norman-Bell was viewed as a star of the future – and her impressive rugby CV didn’t stop there, either.

The New Zealand Warriors included her in their 2019 squad for the NRL Touch Premiership, and she also played in the Farah Palmer Cup.

But after moving across the ditch and attending The University of Sydney, Norman-Bell decided to pursue “what was best for me.”

“New Zealand, they’ve done so much for me. Growing up there, I literally went through everything,” Norman-Bell told RugbyPass at last month’s Hong Kong Sevens.

“I decided to go to Uni after school and I guess that’s where… I didn’t know what to do. Then in my final year of Uni I moved to Sydney just to finish Uni and play more sevens.

“From there, I got in touch with some people and saw what opportunities I had and kind of just went with what was best for me.

“I think choosing this I’ve been personally so grateful, I’ve been able to grow so much. You can’t beat playing on the World Series.

“New Zealand did a lot for me as well so I’m grateful for everyone that’s been a part of my journey.

“My family, to start with that were a bit like ‘oh.’ (But) they support me 100 per cent.

The Black Ferns Sevens are adored by rugby fans around the world – well, most of the time anyway.#BlackFernsSevens #NewZealand #WorldSevensSeries #HongKong7s https://t.co/UH3TFLrL87

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2023

“My granddad’s from England and my other grandparents are from Scotland so I have quite a lot of teams to support.

“It’s been really good, everyone’s supporting me a lot.”

Norman-Bell has played almost 50 matches on the Sevens World Series, including a standout tournament in Hong Kong China last month.

Playing in the bronze final against Fiji, the 23-year-old was the hero that GB needed.

Fiji took a two-point lead with less than 20 seconds to run on the clock, but there was enough time left for GB to produce something special at the spiritual home of sevens.

Enter Isla Norman-Bell.

With the ball in two hands, the speedster saw a gap and didn’t hesitate to make the most of the opportunity two minutes after the siren had sounded.

Norman-Bell ran about 45 metres to the house, having scored the match-winner in the right corner.

As she began to celebrate with her teammates, it became clear that Norman-Bell had found herself a home with GB sevens.