Cheryl Moana Smith (née Waaka) MNZM

Cheryl Moana Smith — known to her community simply as Whaea Cheryl — was a wahine toa whose life of service, courage, and quiet determination changed the face of rugby in Aotearoa New Zealand. Born on 12 May 1970 in Rawene, in the heart of the Far North, she grew up in a family steeped in the game. Her father, Wattie Waaka, had pulled on the jersey for the New Zealand Māori, and her brothers Brent and Tuck would do the same — a rugby lineage that ran bone-deep. She was schooled at Northland College, where she first found sport through netball, before discovering rugby in her mid-twenties — late by most standards, and yet she would more than make up for lost time. Moving to Auckland opened a new world. Cheryl won selection to the Black Ferns, making her international debut on 13 August 1997 against England at Burnham. Playing as a loose forward and flanker, she brought physicality, intelligence, and relentless work rate to everything she did. Over 20 tests between 1997 and 2004, she won 19, including Rugby World Cup victories in 1998 and 2002. In the 2002 final against England, she scored a try — a moment that crystallised her place among the elite of the women's game. Yet it was what came next that defined her most fully. Returning to Te Tai Tokerau, Cheryl threw herself into building the game she loved from the ground up. In 2005, she became the first woman in Northland to coach a senior men's club rugby team, taking charge at Kaikohe — not to make a statement, but because she had a job to do. She later served as president of the Kaikohe Rugby Football Club and in 2019 co-coached the Northland women's team in the Farah Palmer Cup. Known for reliability and consistent action over glamorous talk, she never boasted of her accomplishments, always directing credit toward her players and community. Her contributions were formally recognised in the 2023 New Year Honours, when she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to rugby. In 2024, she was named in Northland Rugby's Women's Team of the Century, and in 2025 was inducted as a Northland Legend of Sport. That same year, she was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. Characteristically, she turned even that ordeal into an act of service — advocating fiercely for early detection and awareness, especially among Māori communities. Cheryl Moana Smith passed away on 11 October 2026, aged 56, leaving behind two teenage children, a province she had transformed, and a generation of players who called her their first idol. Her legacy is not measured in trophies alone, but in every woman and girl who laced up boots because someone like her showed it was possible.