The Wallaroos may consider themselves an “underdog” ahead of the women’s Rugby World Cup starting in England on Friday, but an emerging crop of players in their teens and early 20s suggest they won’t be for long.
Thirteen of the 32 players in the squad are under 24 years of age, and many of them, including teenage fullback Caitlyn Halse and powerful 22-year-old backrower Tabua Tuinakauvadra, are set to be key contributors when Australia’s campaign begins against Samoa in Manchester on Saturday.
Halse was one of three players nominated for World Rugby’s breakout player of the year award in 2024 after debuting at age 18. “My strengths would probably be my kicking or my vision-slash-game knowledge,” she says. “That’s where you’ll see me doing the most, returning kicks or looking for space in the backfield.”
The Picton product has long been on the radar of talent scouts in western Sydney. At the age of 10 she was playing against boys, and told the local paper she would hide her hair in her headgear, relishing the reaction of her opponents when she revealed she was a girl at the end of a match. She tried netball and athletics, and thought for a moment she could excel in discus or shot put, but she ended up pursuing the two rugby codes before specialising in union.
“I’ve always liked it more, and then during Olympics, there are a lot more like youth sevens competitions, so I think there’s just a lot more opportunity in rugby in general compared to league,” she says.
While Australia’s Jillaroos are world beaters in league, the Wallaroos are still playing catch-up to rivals who invested in the 15-a-side game earlier. Ranked No 6 in the world, they are yet to beat the No 3-ranked New Zealand All Ferns in 29 matches since their first clash in 1994, and world No 2 Canada dominated the Australians 45-7 in May.
“We are the underdog coming to the World Cup,” Halse says. “Those programmes like England and New Zealand have been full-time professional for quite some time and I think you can see that in the way they play, the way that they look connected on the field.”
Tuinakauvadra agrees. “Underdog is a is a good way to describe us, but you can never count us out,” says the forward whose rise has been almost as rapid as Halse’s. Growing up in Orange, she had few XVs opportunities until the end of high school, and initially pursued league. During the 2021 season, she commuted up to play for the Glebe Dirty Reds in Sydney while living in Canberra. But a visit to the famous Vikings rugby club in Tuggeranong alongside her sister that year set her on the pathway towards the Wallaroos.
“I got a bit sick of it, the travel takes a bit out of you, and my sister was like, ‘come play for Vikings, we need the numbers’. It was towards the end of the season, so I said yes, I just needed something to do and have some fun,” she says.
“I ended up going to the Brumbies pre-season after that in December, I haven’t gone back to league since and it’s just picked up from there,” she says. “I made Brums [in 2022] and then was capped for the Wallaroos in 2023. It’s been pretty fast how it’s all happened.”
When the Wallaroos’ established No 8 Piper Duck – herself only 24 – was injured this year, Tuinakauvadra moved into the starting lineup and is set to play a significant role in the World Cup, even with Duck returning from her shoulder complaint. “Injuries suck for others, but also you still have a job to do,” Tuinakauvadra says. “I just knew if I was given the opportunity to be in that lineup again, I was just going to take it and not give it up.”
The 22-year-old’s confidence grows with each match – she scored twice in the last Test against Wales – especially in finding the gain-line on tough carries. “I’ve been working really hard on that, on my carry and what else my carry can offer,” she says. “I just back it 100%, I’ve always had confidence in it, but I’ve slowly grown to know that I can run the ball and break tackles.”
While the pair are focused on performing in this month’s tournament, they are aware that a home World Cup is now just four years away. Halse says it’s an exciting time for rugby but she is not looking too far ahead. “I think you’ve got to go game by game, year by year, and then just hope that I’m still around and uninjured by the time it comes,” she says.
Tuinakauvadra works casually and studies physical education teaching part-time. She sees momentum building for those in the generation below her, especially with developing pathways, even if resources for those at the top are, as she describes, “not quite there”. Under Rugby Australia contracts, Wallaroos players are paid between $15,000 and $70,000, in addition to match payments that take top earners close to $100,000 annually.
“We come back and work, and some of us put our jobs on hold or our studies on hold to commit to it, but you can see it’s in the future,” she says. “I don’t know how long, but hopefully, closer to 2029, you can just say to people walking the street you do rugby full-time, which is pretty cool.”
