Sene Naoupu

Sene Naoupu (née: Fanene) is an Ireland women's rugby union international.

[3][4] Naoupu was born into a Samoan New Zealander family and raised in Oamaru by her single mother, Toeafiafi Taiti.

[1][5][8] She attended the University of Otago on a basketball scholarship before switching sports and concentrating on rugby union.

[6][9] In September 2003 she was included in a New Zealand women's national rugby union team training squad along with Farah Palmer and Anna Richards.

[9] In 2008, while working as a co-host on a sports radio show in Auckland, Sene met George Naoupu, who at the time was playing for the Highlanders.

They then spent a year in Japan where George played for the Kobelco Steelers and Sene coached rugby union to children.

[1][7][9] In Ireland, Naoupu has represented both Connacht and Leinster in the IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series.

[24][25] In April 2017 Naoupu scored three tries as she helped Ireland win the Challenge Trophy at the 2017 Japan Women's Sevens.

[1] But the Covid-enforced rescheduling of the second half of the 2020 Women's Six Nations meant she was back in time to start in Ireland's defeat of Italy in October.

She has a company which partners with national governing bodies to facilitate player pathways and is an outspoken supporter of girls and women in sport.