Samoan coach keen to share her experiences from the Gallagher High Performance Academy.
Rugby played an important part in helping Alaiumu Sao Taliu through a challenging period in her life; now she hopes to use her experiences to help others.
Taliu had a difficult pregnancy in 2018 before she gave birth to her daughter, Hudson, but taking up coaching with the College Rifles rugby club in Auckland gave her a different perspective and positive focus.
“My favourite rugby memory is when I started to coach in 2018, which served a greater grace to my journey,” Taliu told World Rugby.
“I was pregnant with my daughter, and I was going through some hardship, so I was not in a great space.
“What began as a hard start to that year ended with great rewards, watching the College Rifles win their competition and then giving birth a week later to my daughter.
“That year I took my hardship and used it to help me get back to what I love, which is being involved in rugby and a great mother to Hudson.”
Taliu began playing rugby with her eight siblings, before taking it up at provincial level as a fly-half. In addition to her coaching role with the College Rifles, she is now the attack coach for Auckland Thunder – the province’s development team – and is looking forward to implementing her learnings from the Gallagher High Performance Academy to drive the team to success.
“I am excited to use all the learnings I received from the Academy to make a positive change,” she said.
“I hope that I can overcome challenges that I may face, because this will help me to continue to grow.”