Cheryl Smith

Cheryl Smith, born Cheryl Moana Waaka and widely known in rugby as Cheryl Waaka, was a New Zealand rugby union player, coach and administrator. A loose forward for Auckland and the Black Ferns, she won two Rugby World Cups with New Zealand and later became a pioneering coach and leader in Northland rugby. She died on 11 October 2026, aged 56, after living with bowel cancer.

Waaka was born on 12 May 1970. She played her provincial rugby for Auckland as a flanker or number 8 and made her international debut for the Black Ferns on 13 August 1997, against England at Burnham. She went on to play 20 Tests for New Zealand, winning 19 of them.

She was part of the New Zealand teams that won the Women's Rugby World Cup in the Netherlands in 1998 and in Spain in 2002, and she scored in the 2002 final against England. Those sides laid the foundations of the Black Ferns' long run as one of the dominant teams in the women's game.

After her playing days, Waaka turned to coaching and development in Te Tai Tokerau, the Northland region. In 2005 she became the first woman in Northland to coach a senior men's club rugby team. She worked with Sport Northland and Northland Rugby to develop women's rugby, young players and coaches, and she served as president of the Kaikohe Rugby Football Club. In the 2023 New Year Honours she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rugby.

In 2025 she was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. She had been fit and active, and said fatigue was the only warning sign she had noticed. She became an advocate for bowel cancer awareness and early detection, particularly among Maori, and spoke publicly about the financial and emotional cost of treatment. Her treatment included Avastin, which was not publicly funded, and a community fundraising campaign raised more than $82,000 to support her.

Her death was announced by her whanau and by the Kaikohe Rugby Football Club on 11 October 2026. Her body was to lie with her family before being taken to Taheke Marae in South Hokianga. Te Ao Maori News remembered her as an elite athlete and as a leader, mentor, coach and advocate for her community. In her own words: "My legacy will be that I've given everything that I can."