A rugby sevens great and a Black Ferns XV Test player, Tyla King (née Nathan-Wong) switched codes as a 29-year-old and received a rapid Kiwi Ferns call-up after a successful NRLW transition with St George Illawarra.
Northland’s King won two World Cups, an Olympic silver (Rio 2016) and a pair of gold medals (Toyko 2020 and Paris 2024), Commonwealth Games gold medal (2018) and six World Series titles during a decade in the New Zealand sevens team, while she was named New Zealand’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2015 and ’19, and World Sevens Player of the Year in the latter. A belated Test jersey arrived in 2022 following a Super Rugby Aupiki season with the Blues.
The veteran athlete was snapped up by the Dragons in May 2023 and partnered Kiwi Ferns superstar Raecene McGregor in the halves in all nine games, scoring three tries and kicking four goals, and chalking up five try assists.
King added her name to the ranks of New Zealand’s dual internationals during the Kiwi Ferns’ Pacific Championships campaign, playing all three matches. She came off the bench in the loss to Australia in Townsville, before moving to five-eighth for the victories over Tonga and the Jillaroos – notching a try assist in both and averaging 18 runs.
Farewelling the international rugby sevens stage with a second gold medal for in Paris, King’s start to the 2024 NRLW campaign was subsequently delayed but she featured in four matches for the Saints before being selected again in the Kiwi Ferns’ Pacific Championships squad.
With clubmate Raecene McGregror unavailable, King played all three matches at halfback, laying on a try and kicking four goals in the win over Papua New Guinea.
