Cynthia Ta'ala
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| Nationality | Samoan, New Zealander | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 29 August 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Rugby player and coach; teacher | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cynthia Ta'ala (born 29 August 1974) is a sportswoman who has played rugby league for the New Zealand women's national rugby league team and has captained the Samoa women's national rugby union team, of which she is now its assistant coach. She has also played for the New Zealand women's national basketball team.
Cynthia Ta'ala-Timaloa was born in August 1974. She played basketball for New Zealand at the age of 16. A member of the Auckland women's rugby team, she first played for the Kiwi Ferns national rugby league team in 1999 and was still playing in 2010 at the age of 36. During that period New Zealand won three Women's Rugby League World Cups. In 2003 she was chosen as a member of the "Team of the Tournament", in the full back position.
In 2014, Ta'ala captained the Manusina Samoa women's rugby union team at the World Cup, having qualified at the 2013 European Qualification Tournament in Madrid.[1] She finally retired as a player at the age of 43 following an injury, having previously found it difficult to hang up her boots.[2][3]