Sarah Hirini is no stranger to making history.
The rugby sevens player was among the first contracted players in New Zealand back in 2013. Since then, she’s garnered an impressive list of accolades, to say the least. Among others, she’s picked up three Olympic medals at three consecutive Summer Games, as well as two medals at the Commonwealth Games and eight World Series wins.
Hirini’s most recent achievement was clinched right here in the little red dot, as she led her Black Ferns Sevens to retain the HSBC SVNS Singapore title. Held last month at the National Stadium, the team overpowered their Australian counterparts in the finals, taking things home with a score of 31 to 7.
“I love coming to Singapore,” says Hirini. This most recent trip to the city-state included a boat cruise along the Singapore River and a meal at Newton Food Centre. The latter, she adds, was a must-see for the team, who had seen the venue in Crazy Rich Asians. “We don’t have stuff like that [in New Zealand].”
Growing into leadership
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Hirini was first named captain of the Black Ferns Sevens in 2015, when she was just 21. Taking on the role at such a young age came with its own set of challenges, she recalls. “Back then it was quite difficult, because honestly, there were people in the team … who didn’t think that I was up for the job.”
Finding her footing as a leader took “a bit of a process”, she says. “I had to grow up quite quickly and figure out who I wanted to be and what I was going to stand for as a leader.” One thing that helped, she adds, was having the encouragement of her family. She cites her then-partner, Conor Hirini, whom she married in 2019, as one of her major pillars of support.
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Still, even as the Black Ferns Sevens have gone from strength to strength, the usual stressors of performing well remain. “I feel the pressure sometimes of just wanting our team to win,” says Hirini, “because when you wear the Black Ferns logo, you’re expected to win, and that’s just what happens in New Zealand rugby.”
That isn’t a drawback for her, though. “I’m very competitive, so I don’t mind that, and I want to just make sure our team is successful anytime that we can.”
Raising the bar
In 2016, Hirini led her team to the Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. This was the first time that rugby sevens had been included in the Games, and they were eager to bring home the gold.
“Only gold was talked about. It was like, we’re going there and we’re winning gold. That’s the only thing,” she recalls. But those dreams ultimately fell through; the team lost to Australia in the final, trading their gold medal for silver in the process.
Refusing to wallow and lick their wounds, the team set to work right away, working to avoid repeating the things that didn’t go quite as planned on the field back in Rio. “That next four-year cycle gave us an amazing opportunity to change things that we didn’t get right in 2016,” she says. “A lot of that was around off-field culture, and making sure that we were the best team that could possibly be.”
So when they set off to Tokyo for the next Games in 2021, the team was fully ready — more so than before — and swiftly picked up their first gold medal. That moment, Hirini says, was one of “relief”; it was also one that would give the team a confidence boost towards the Paris Olympics in 2024, where they picked up a second gold.
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Partnering up
Hirini became a partner of TUDOR in 2021. The partnership is fitting, she says, not least because of the watchmaker’s slogan: “Born to Dare”. Noting her experience as a female player in a once male-dominated sport, she says having that bold, fearless attitude has been key to helping her move forward.
Another common thread between Hirini and TUDOR? Colour. Her favourite is red, the shade of the brand’s logo. “It’s been red ever since I can remember as a young kid, and so [it’s] just fortunate enough that TUDOR is red too,” she says with a chuckle.
Speaking on her favourite pieces, Hirini says she likes the Black Bay Ceramic, the first watch she received from the brand. “It’s something that I still enjoy wearing, and especially because I can wear it every day; I can dress it up, but I can also wear it at training.”
Among the brand’s latest releases, which were unveiled in April at this year’s Watches and Wonders in Geneva, she naturally gravitates towards the new Black Bay 58. The 39mm watch, drawing on an unreleased prototype from the 1990s, features an eye-catching burgundy dial with a matching bezel.
Focusing on the future
A decade after taking on the Black Ferns Sevens captaincy, Hirini sees her role as a “huge privilege”, allowing her to guide and bring up the next generation of rugby talent.
“I love that I get to help other players who are coming into our environment, and the youngsters who are coming in,” she says. “They are so talented, way more talented than I’ve ever been … They’re going to be taking our game to a whole other level!”
Uplifting young players, she continues, is a matter of giving them ample support and room to grow. “My fear is not allowing others the space that I got to be a part of, or … not allowing them to grow as quickly, as it took me a long time to grow … I just hope that they’re in a space where they can fail fast, then grow from it, then be better than they can be.”
To further this goal, Hirini has set up an academy to give young people in New Zealand a platform to enter the world of rugby. With support from TUDOR, the Hirini Rugby Academy provides free coaching clinics in schools and clubs across New Zealand.
“To me, sport has allowed me so many different opportunities and to be a better person,” says Hirini. “I want to be able to keep pushing that in the younger generation.”
Going the distance
This eye on the next generation comes as Hirini enters her 13th year as a professional athlete, a career longevity that not many others in sport have enjoyed. “I’ve lived my dream, so however long this takes me, for the next couple of years, I’ve already surpassed people who have wanted that,” she says.
Asked about what she sees in the cards for herself when the time comes to retire, Hirini says she hasn’t decided. “I think if you’d asked me that yesterday, it [would have been] different to what I say today, and to what I say tomorrow,” she quips. Among the possible paths she might take are becoming a mom and joining her husband, who’s coaching rugby in Japan.
Zooming back in on her career thus far, Hirini says her rise in the game was one she never quite expected. “Thirteen years ago, I didn’t think it was possible to try to travel the world playing a game that I love in a sport that was male-dominated,” she muses, noting that today, rugby is the fastest-growing sport in New Zealand, particularly for women, with four all-female teams.
“I think something that I’m really proud of is that we’re continuing to break down those barriers, I think, on and off the field, and hopefully that will continue.”
As she looks to the future, Hirini hopes women’s rugby will grow even faster. “I want there to be way more opportunities than what I got in rugby, and I got a lot,” she says. “If we can continue filling out stadiums and broadcasting around the world — those two massive things are what will set more eyes on rugby.”
