Ruby Tui signs one-year deal with Trailfinders Women

What happened: New Zealand international Ruby Tui has signed for Trailfinders Women, adding one of the sport's most decorated players to the English club's squad. BBC Sport reported that the 34-year-old has agreed a one-year deal with the team that reached last season's Premiership Women's Rugby final. Trailfinders also announced the signing on their club website.

Tui brings a record built across both major forms of rugby. She was part of New Zealand's team at the 2021 Rugby World Cup and played a key role as the Black Ferns defeated England 34-31 in the final. That result added a 15-a-side world title to the honours she had already earned in international sevens.

Her sevens career includes both Olympic gold and silver medals, according to BBC Sport. Tui was also named World Rugby's women's sevens player of the year in 2019. Those achievements underline the experience Trailfinders are adding as they prepare to follow a season in which they advanced to the domestic championship match.

Why it matters: Trailfinders head coach Barney Maddison described Tui as one of the most respected people in the women's game. In comments published by the club and reported by the BBC, Maddison pointed to her competitive qualities and her leadership away from matches as assets for a squad seeking to build on last season's progress.

Tui said she views Premiership Women's Rugby as the strongest women's competition in the world at present. She also said the Trailfinders group had made her feel welcome and that watching the side during the previous season had increased her enthusiasm for its style of play. Her remarks framed the move as a return to competition at a club with recent title-stage experience.

The confirmed contract covers one year, while neither the BBC report nor the club comments included financial terms. The signing therefore establishes Tui's immediate destination without indicating plans beyond that period. For Trailfinders, the announcement adds a World Cup winner, Olympic medallist and former global sevens player of the year to the roster ahead of the new campaign.