DaLeaka Lilly Menin (born 16 June 1995) is a Canadian

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 ...

player. She plays at

Prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

internationally and for

Exeter Chiefs Women Exeter Chiefs Women are a professional women's rugby union team based in Exeter, Devon, England. They were founded in 2019 to take part in the Premier 15s, the top level of English women's rugby. They are based at Sandy Park and are affiliated t ...

in the

Premiership Women's Rugby Premiership Women's Rugby – officially known as Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby or The Allianz PWR – is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run b ...

competition.

Rugby career

Menin played for the

Calgary Dinos The Calgary Dinos are the athletic teams that represent the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. They were known as the "Dinosaurs" but usually referred to as the "Dinos" until 1999, when the name was officially shortened. Some of its venues ...

for five years, scoring 23 tries on the team. She has received numerous merits including the U-Sports Rookie of the Year award in the 2013–2014 season and the U-Sports players of the year award in 2016–2017. She competed for Canada at the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Du ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Menin made her debut against the New Zealand Black Ferns side in 2015 where the Canadian side lost 40–22. She is primarily known for playing

tighthead prop In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

but can also play loosehead prop. Menin was selected in

's squad for the deferred

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

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 ...

. She started every game at the Rugby World Cup at tighthead prop. In 2023, she was named in

's squad for their

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) ...

against the Springbok women and for the

2023 Pacific Four Series The 2023 Pacific Four Series was the third edition of the Pacific Four Series, an international women's rugby union tournament that served as one of the principal qualification routes for the top two tiers of WXV. The tournament was hosted by Sp ...

. She started in Canada's 66–7 thrashing of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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. In July 2023, she started in her sides Pacific Four loss to 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 ...

, they went down 21–52. She was selected in Canada's squad for the

2025 Pacific Four Series The 2025 Pacific Four Series was the fifth edition of the Pacific Four Series, an international women's rugby union tournament. Matches took place from the 3 to 24 May over two continents and provided all four teams with important preparation ahe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menin, DaLeaka Living people 1995 births Canada women's international rugby union players Canadian female rugby union players People from Vulcan County Rugby union players from Alberta Rugby union props Canadian expatriate rugby union players in England University of Calgary alumni Loughborough Lightning rugby union players Exeter Chiefs Women players Calgary Dinos players 21st-century Canadian sportswomen