New Zealand’s Woodman-Wickliffe to retire after Olympics

Two-time World Cup winner Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has announced she will retire from rugby after the Paris Olympics with New Zealand this month.

Woodman-Wickliffe, 32, played both sevens and XVs during her successful career, helping the Black Ferns to back-to-back World Cups in 2017 and 2022.

The winger was named World Rugby’s Player of the Year in 2017 and 2020, and won the award as a sevens player in 2015.

“Rugby has given me more than a career, it has given me a second whanau (family) in my sisters, opportunities to see the world and experience things I would never have otherwise. A last dance with my sisters in Paris,” Woodman-Wickliffe posted on social media.

Woodman-Wickliffe holds the record for both disciplines and holds the individual try scoring record for the Rugby World Cup with 20 tries. He also holds the most try scoring record in Sevens Series history with 256 tries.

Woodman-Wickliffe is now aiming to win back-to-back gold at the Olympics, having won gold in Tokyo in 2020.

It will be her third Games, after winning a silver medal in Rio 2016.