Ruahei Demant

Early life Ruahei Devon Demant was born on 21 April 1995. As she was born on the day Team New Zealand won the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup she acquired the nicknamed Lu. Her father was a commercial cray fisherman. She has five siblings, among whom are sisters Erina and Kiritapu. She spent her childhood in the small coastal settlement of Ōmāio, in an area known as Little Awanui, in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Demant and her younger sister Kiritapu grew up playing soccer with boys because there were no girls teams locally. They also played netball, basketball, hockey, touch rugby and rugby league.

Demant and her siblings grew up speaking Māori as their first language at home. They first attended the Tokamaii Kohanga Reo, before attending Te Kura Mana Maori o Maraenui school, near Opotoki, where all the lessons are in Maori.

Demant also began playing fifteen-a-side rugby at Mahurangi and loved it but while the school was able to field 15 players in her first year, it dropped to 10 in the second which was insufficient to field a team. Upon arriving for their first training run Demant later recalled “I remember Dad drove Kiritapu and me to our first practice and we saw these huge Tongan props approaching the car. We begged Dad to take us home, but he refused.” With Covid preventing international travel Demant played for the Black Ferns in their only two games of the season, both against the New Zealand Barbarians.

Super rugby Demant played for the Blues against the Chiefs in the first-ever women's Super Rugby match in New Zealand on 1 May 2021. On 3 November 2021, She was named in the Blues squad for the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki competition. She was named in the Blues starting line-up for their first game against Matatū, they won 21–10. She also started in their 0–35 thrashing by the Chiefs Manawa in the final round.

2021 Black Ferns northern tour Demant played in all games of the Blacks Ferns disastrous tour to the northern hemisphere in October and November 2021 which saw them lose all their games against England and France.

2022 Pacific Fours With existing captain Les Elder unavailable due to injury Demant was selected in May 2022 to captain the Black Ferns squad for the 2022 Pacific Four Series.

2022 Laurie Reilly Cup For the August test series against Australia for the Laurie O'Reilly Cup Demant was once again selected to lead the Blacks Ferns, but with Kennedy Simon who was returning from injury as her co-captain.

2021 Rugby World Cup Demant was selected to captain the Black Ferns 32-player squad for the 2021 Rugby World Cup. At Demant's request Kennedy Simon was made her co-captain.

Led by Demant on the field in five of the six games New Zealand won all of its games in the competition, including the final. Demant scored a total of four tries throughout the competition and was named the player of the match of the final.

2023 season Demant was given a playing contract by New Zealand Rugby for the 2023 season. She was selected as co-captain of the Black Ferns squad, with Kennedy Simon, for the Pacific Four Series and O’Reilly Cup. In July, she scored a try in her sides 21–52 victory over Canada at the Pacific Series in Ottawa.

2025 In July 2025, she was named in the Black Ferns squad to the Women's Rugby World Cup in England. In November 2025, it was confirmed that she had joined Premiership Women's Rugby team Bristol Bears Women on a four-month deal.

2026 She returned from the United Kingdom to co-captain New Zealand in the 2026 Pacific Four Series. In the opening game of the series which was against the United States at Heart Health Park, Sacramento on 11 April 2026 she became the longest-serving New Zealand fifteen-a-side women's captain with 36 matches in that role.

Honours and awards In June 2014, Demant was awarded a Moana Ngarimu VC Scholarship to assist with her studies. It was presented in the Grand Hall of Parliament at an occasion attended by the Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae, Willie Apiata, VC and Minister of Education, Hekia Parata.

At the 2022 World Rugby Awards, Demant was named Women's 15s Player of the Year. Also in 2022, she was named Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year, Tom French Māori Player of the Year, and Black Ferns Player of the Year.

In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours, Demant was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to rugby.

Personal life Demant is of Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Te Whakatōhea descent. Her younger sister Kiritapu was also in the Black Ferns, having made her debut in 2015.

She and her sister Kiritapu were the fifth pair of sisters to play for the Black Ferns and the first Māori sisters. Her relative Te Whetu Werohia Tipiwai composed the Black Ferns haka Ko Uhia Mai.