The New Zealand women's national rugby league team, also known as the Kiwi Ferns or New Zealand Kiwi Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's rugby league. They are administered by the New Zealand Rugby League.
New Zealand won the Women's Rugby League World Cup in 2000, 2003 and 2008.
The Kiwi Ferns were formed in 1995.
Touring Australia in June and July 1995, the team won all seven games that they played. Two of the games were full internationals against Australia.
The First Test Match was held on 1 July 1995 at Lidcombe Oval in Sydney. New Zealand 18 defeated Australia 14. The Second Test was held on 8 July 1995 at Hawker Oval in Canberra. New Zealand 14 defeated Australia 6.
In 1997, New Zealand hosted Australia for two Test matches, winning both.
New Zealand hosted a 1998 tour by Great Britain, winning all three matches by comfortable margins, the score of 28 to 6 in the First Test being the closest.
During a Trans-Tasman series in 1999, New Zealand experienced their first defeat, a narrow 20-22 loss in the Second Test at Penrith. New Zealand won the third Test in Auckland to claim the series two-one.
New Zealand competed in the 2000 World Cup, beating Australia and Great Britain twice each to claim the inaugural title.
New Zealand remained undefeated in the 2000s until a one-off Test Match against Australia in 2009. During this period, the Kiwi Ferns won one-off matches in 2001 and 2002, all six matches in the 2003 World Cup to claim their second title, two matches in 2004, another in 2006, and all five matches in the 2008 World Cup to claim their third title as World Cup champions. The winning streak extended to 21 matches.
Also see .
The current coach of the New Zealand team is Ricky Henry, who replaced Justin Morgan in 2020. Morgan had been the coach since 2018.
Note:
The Kiwi Ferns squad for the 2025 Pacific Championships was announced on 7 October 2025.
Jersey numbers in the table reflect selections for the Pacific Cup Final versus the Australian Jillaroos
Players' ages are as at the date that the table was last updated, 9 November 2025 (after the Pacific Cup Final).
Notes
Notes:
New Zealand has qualified for the 2026 World Cup to be held in October-November 2026. All three of the Kiwi Fern's pool games have been scheduled within a multi-match game day. The second round match in Christchurch precedes a New Zealand men's team match. The third round match on the Queensland Gold Coast follows a women's match between Fiji and France and a men's match between New Zealand and Fiji.
This section last updated 17 November 2024.
The tally of tries, goals and points for this section is missing
Points scored: 246
Tries scored: 45
Goals kicked: 57
Points scored in a match: 40
Tries scored in a match: 6
Goals kicked in a match: 10
Notes:
Biggest winning margins
Biggest losing margins
Most consecutive wins
Most consecutive losses
A female Player of the Year award is included in the New Zealand Rugby League Awards.
A female Rookie of the Year award has been included in the New Zealand Rugby League Awards since 2018.
The Kiwi Ferns were formed in 1995.
<big>1995 Inaugural Kiwi Ferns Team</big>
Touring Australia in June and July 1995, the team won all seven games that they played. Two of the games were full internationals against Australia.
The First Test Match was held on 1 July 1995 at Lidcombe Oval in Sydney. New Zealand 18 (Maira Auega, Leah Witehira, Debbie Syme, Luisa Avaiki tries; Zavana Aranga goal) defeated Australia 14 (Natalie Dwyer, Julie McGuffie, Sherrilee Moulds tries; Sherrilee Moulds goal).
The Second Test was held on 8 July 1995 at Hawker Oval in Canberra. New Zealand 14 (Tammi Wilson, Leah Witehira, Laura Waretine tries; Laura Waretine goal) defeated Australia 6 (Katrina Fanning try, Sherrilee Moulds goal).
Other matches on the tour were played against the following teams:
<big>1997 Kiwi Ferns Team</big>
New Zealand hosted Australia. New Zealand won both International Test games to remain undefeated for 4 Tests in a row.
<big>1998 Kiwi Ferns Team</big>
New Zealand hosted a travelling Great Britain Lionesses team. New Zealand won all 3 test matches to bring their undefeated tally to 7 in a row.
<big>1999 Kiwi Ferns Team</big>
The three-match series was split between two matches in Sydney and one in Auckland. New Zealand won the First Test Match but lost the Second Test, ending their 8 Test undefeated streak.
2000 World Cup Kiwi Ferns Squad
New Zealand travelled to Great Britain for the Inaugural Women's Rugby League World Cup. New Zealand beat both Great Britain & Ireland and Australia in round matches, and then Australia in a semi-final to play Great Britain & Ireland in the final. New Zealand won the Final 26âÂÂ4, to win the World Cup.
2003 Kiwi Ferns World Cup Squad
Sharlene Atai (Auckland), Luisa Avaiki (Captain, Auckland), Mere Baker (Canterbury), Elina Beets (Auckland), Tafale Chan Ting (Auckland), Nadene Conlon (Auckland), Sarina Fiso (Auckland), Aimee Gilbert (Wellington), Marion Heather (Auckland), Trish Hina (Wellington), Honey Hireme (Waikato), Annabelle Hohepa (Auckland), Teasha-Lee Leka (Auckland), Bodene Marino (Canterbury), Caroline Marsters, Lorina Papali'i, Rona Peters, Cynthia Ta'ala, Rachel White, Leah Witehira (all Auckland).
2010 Kiwi Ferns Team
The Kiwi Ferns team for the First Test against England was: Sarina Fiso; Sharlene Ata, Trish Hina, Karley Te Korua, Laura Mariu; Rona Peters, Josephine Leef; Sharnita Woodman, Ana Pereira, Cynthia TaâÂÂala, Honey Hireme, Maryanne Collins. Interchange: Ebony Low, Akehene Pereira, Maryanne Hemara, Kathleen Keremete. There were four changes to the seventeen for the Second Test, with Bridget Smith, Lorina Papali'i, Charmaine McMenamim and Alisha Moses playing in that match.
2014 Kiwi Ferns Team
The Kiwi Ferns beat the Jillaroos 12 - 8 in a curtain-raiser match ahead of the Four Nations match between the Kangaroos and Samoa at the WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Australia.
2015 Kiwi Ferns Team
The 2015 Anzac Test curtain-raiser match between the Ferns and the Jillaroos was initially to be played on 1 May but was postponed due to bad weather. The match commenced on 3 May at the Suncorp Stadium with the Jillaroos winning the match 22 - 14.
Coverage of the New Zealand Women's Rugby League team in the following sources is intermittent until the mid-2010s. There are multiple instances of a newspaper publishing details in relation to a match or series in one year, but not of matches in following years.