Cortez P Te Pou (born 6 April 2001) is a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a er or for the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

in Australia's

NRL Women's Premiership The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

(NRLW).

Background

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

heritage, Te Pou attended

Karamu High School Karamu or Karamū may refer to: * Karamu, New Zealand, a rural locality in the North Island of New Zealand * ''Coprosma robusta'', a tree known as karamū * ''Coprosma lucida'', a shrub sometimes called shining karamū * ''Coprosma macrocarpa'', a ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

and was a Hawkes Bay representative in

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 ...

. She later moved to New South Wales, Australia, to play rugby league.

Career

Early career

Te Pou played for the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

in the 2022 Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership, before playing for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

in the same competition the following season. Prior to the 2023 NRLW season, she signed for the

2023 season

During her NRLW debut on 29 July, Te Pou scored two tries as the Dragons defeated the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

38–12.

References

External links

St George Illawarra Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Pou, Cortez 2001 births Living people New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand female rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players People from Hastings, New Zealand Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Hawke's Bay Rugby league wingers St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen