Aimee Sutorius (born 27 May 1979) is a former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and sevens player. She competed at an international level for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and at provincial level for

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

. She also played for the Black Ferns sevens side. She also represented Wellington for Rugby League, Otago and Wellington in Football (soccer), and Wellington and New Zealand for Tag Football.

Sporting career

Rugby XVs

In 2001, she was a trialist for the

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns (), represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tour ...

ahead of their two-test series against

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in June. She fought season-ending injuries in 2003 and 2005. She made her

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut for the Black Ferns on 20 October 2007 against

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Porirua Porirua, () a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Poriru ...

. She is Black Fern #145. Sutorius featured in the two tests against the Wallaroos at

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in 2008. Her last appearance for the Black Ferns was against an England A side at

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on 17 November 2009. She was selected for the Black Ferns training squad ahead of the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limit ...

. In 2015, Sutorius was named in a wider Black Ferns training squad for a 12-month high performance training programme beginning in 2016 in preparation for the 2017 Rugby World Cup in

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Rugby Sevens

She was part of the Black Ferns sevens trial squad for the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens in

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. She played in the world cup qualifying tournament in Samoa in 2009, and is Black Fern Seven's player #19. She was unfortunately ruled out of the World Cup team with injury. Sutorius focused on sevens in 2012 in hopes of a gold medal as rugby was making its return to the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

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Rugby League

Sutorius played a single year of Rugby League in 2022, representing the Wellington Orcas at the National Championship.

Tag Football

Sutorius represented Wellington at the National Championships many times from 2007-2019, and was part of the World Cup winning New Zealand Barbarians Open Mixed team in 2008.

Football (Soccer)

Sutorius played for the New Zealand Universities women's team from 1997-2001, and played for the Otago University women's team in those same years. She also represented Wellington and played for the Marist Football Club in Wellington from 2002-2005.

Rugby Coaching career

Sutorius began rugby coaching in 2012, with her club Northern United in Porirua, and coached them through to 2014, winning the club championship in 2013. She coached for the Rhinos Rugby Academy in 2016 and 2017, and was the Elite U18s coach for the Rhinos Rugby Academy in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 2017. She was assistant coach for the Wellington Pride 7s in 2018, and head coach of their Under 18 7s team. Sutorius was assistant coach for the Otago Spirit from 2019-2020, winning the Farah Palmer Cup Championship division. She also coached the Otago women's sevens team for the national sevens tournament in 2019. She was the Women's High Performance Player Development Manager for Otago Rugby from 2019-2020. She was announced as the Women's Head Coach for Northern United Rugby Football Club for the 2022 season. She was a player-coach and led the Northern United team to winning the Tia Paasi Memorial Trophy. 2022 was a busy year as she also coached the Stars team at the LA 7s, and was head coach for the Serengeti Elephants team at the Rugby Championship 10s in South Africa. Sutorius was named as an assistant coach for the Wellington Pride for both the 2021 and the 2023 Farah Palmer Cup.

References

External links

Black Ferns Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutorius, Aimee 1979 births Living people New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's international rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union flankers New Zealand women's international rugby sevens players New Zealand rugby union coaches