Janai Haupapa (born 14 March 1993) is a former women's

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

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 from

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. She plays for the

Canada women's national rugby league team The Canada women's national rugby league team, also known as the Canadian Ravens, represents Canada in international rugby league football tournaments. Canada made their debut full international debut in the 2017 Women's Rugby League World C ...

and has played for the

Canada women's national rugby union team The Canada women's national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union competitions. They are overseen by Rugby Canada, the governing body of rugby union in Canada. History The Canadian women's program began to develop i ...

's development side as a centre.

History

Haupapa plays rugby union for Calgary Rams RFC. In 2015, she was called up to the Canada women's national rugby union development team for their tour of England and made her debut playing in the second row at Molesey Road in

Hersham Hersham is a suburban village in Surrey, within the M25 and the Greater London Built-up Area. It has a mixture of low and high rise housing and has four technology/trading estates. Hersham is contiguous with Walton-on-Thames, its post town, t ...

. In 2017, Haupapa switched codes to rugby league in order to join up with Canada's first ever women's national rugby league squad in time for the

2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydn ...

. She along with the majority of the team were rugby union players with only one having played rugby league prior and Haupapa was still a member of Calgary Rams RFC at the time. However during the tournament where she made her international rugby league debut, she was accused of biting the

Australia women's national rugby league team The Australia women's national rugby league team, also known as the Australian Jillaroos, or Harvey Norman Jillaroos for sponsorship reasons, represents Australia in women's rugby league. They played their first formal international in 1995 und ...

captain

Renae Kunst Renae Kunst is an Australian former international rugby league player. Career In 2008, Kunst was named Player of the Tournament at the Queensland Women's State Championships and was named in the squad for the 2008 Interstate Challenge seri ...

. Despite support from Canada's coach

Mike Castle Michael Newbold Castle (born July 2, 1939) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 69th governor of Delaware from 1985 to 1992 and as the U.S. representative from from 1993 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Th ...

, Haupapa pleaded guilty to the charge and received a two match ban which meant that she missed Canada's semi-final match and the rest of the tournament. This was the fourth allegation of biting that had been levied at a player during the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup with the

England women's national rugby league team The England women's national Rugby League team represents England in Women's Rugby League. They are administered by the Rugby Football League. History Early years Women's Rugby League was originally established in 1985 through the Women's A ...

and the

Papua New Guinea women's national rugby league team The Papua New Guinea women's national rugby league team, also known as the PNG Orchids represents Papua New Guinea in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League. Head to head records Notes: * ...

players also being accused of biting. In 2022, Haupapa was in her house when a large mirror fell on her head giving her a concussion. She has not played a Rugby match since then.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haupapa, Janai 1996 births Living people Canadian female rugby union players Canadian female rugby league players Canada women's national rugby league team players Rugby union centres Sportspeople from Calgary Rugby union players from Alberta Rugby league centres 21st-century Canadian sportswomen