Liz Patu (born 15 July 1989) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

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 appeared in three Rugby World Cups for Australia, in 2014, 2017 and at the delayed 2021 tournament. She played Prop for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

in the

Super W Super Rugby Women's is an annual professional sports, professional women's rugby union club competition organised by Rugby Australia. It is contested by four clubs from Australia and one club from Fiji, who play a single series of Round-robin t ...

competition.

Early life

Patu was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

but was raised in her native

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. She later migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 2004.

Rugby career

Patu She made her international debut against

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 ...

in 2014. She was selected for the Wallaroos 2014 Rugby World Cup squad. She also competed at the 2017 Rugby World Cup in

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 ...

. Patu played against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

who had not played a game since 2017. In 2018 she was named as captain ahead of their Test series against New Zealand. She featured again for Australia in 2019 against New Zealand in two test matches. In 2019 Patu was given a six-week ban for biting Wallaroos team-mate

Rebecca Clough Rebecca Clough (born 14 November 1988) is an Australian rugby union player. She represented Australia at three Rugby World Cups in 2010, 2014 and 2017. Early career Clough played netball, soccer, athletics, and swimming as a child. She first ...

in a

match. Patu was named in Australia's squad for the

2022 Pacific Four Series The 2022 Pacific Four Series was the second edition of the Pacific Four Series. The competition was hosted by New Zealand from 6 to 18 June. Matches were played at two of the venues which hosted the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup – The Trusts Ar ...

. She was named in the Wallaroos squad for a two-test series against 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 ...

for the

Laurie O'Reilly Cup The Laurie O'Reilly Cup is the trophy competed for by the women's rugby union teams of Australia and New Zealand. The two nations met annually between 1994 and 1998, with New Zealand winning all games, often by significant margins, as a result of ...

. Patu appeared in her third, and final, Rugby World Cup when she was selected in the team for the delayed

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

in New Zealand. She later announced her retirement from the Wallaroos in December.

References

External links

Wallaroos Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patu, Liz 1989 births Living people Australia women's international rugby union players Australian female rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland