Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea (rugby 7s) made her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham where she was part of the women’s team that won the gold medal.

One of the most damaging midfielders in the women’s game, Alysia has Samoan-Tongan heritage and comes from a strong rugby pedigree: her uncles are former Wallaby giant Will Skelton and All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina.

“Alf” as she is called by her teammates, played netball and touch football at school in Auckland before friends encouraged her to play rugby when she was 14. She moved to Australia in 2016 and had pulled on Queensland jerseys in sevens, 10s and 15s by the time she was 18 but had to wait three years to fulfill eligibility requirements before she could make her green and gold debut for the Wallaroos in 2019.

The ferocious speedster made her rugby sevens international debut in May 2021 playing against the Black Ferns as part of a pre-Olympic tournament and received a late call-up to go to Tokyo when eligibility rules were changed to allow reserves to play.