Tanya Kalounivale is the rock of the Waikato pack. The tighthead prop is coming off a strong Farah Palmer Cup campaign in which her scrummaging was hard to fault for the runners-up, creating space for the sharp backline to cut some shapes.
The Fiji-born and Suva Grammar-educated Kalounivale debuted for Waikato in 2017, not long after her school days were over.
In the 2020 Farah Palmer Cup, she formed a rock-solid front-row combination with Toka Natua and Grace Houpapa-Barrett. Kalounivale herself scored two tries in six games, including one in the semifinal against the Manawatu Cyclones, taking her stats to three tries from 21 outings for Waikato.
Kalounivale was a part of the inaugural Chiefs Women’s team who played the one off historic match at Eden Park in 2021.
