Shakira Baker

Shakira Baker

Born	(1992-01-04) 4 January 1992 Masterton, New Zealand
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	92 kg (14 st 7 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing, Fullback Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 2009–24 Wellington 4 (20) Super Rugby Years Team Apps (Points) 2023–24 Hurricanes Poua 12 (10) International career Years Team Apps (Points) 2011–14 New Zealand 13 (40) National sevens team Years Team Comps 2011–24 New Zealand
Rugby league career
Playing information
Position	Second-row, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2025– New Zealand Warriors 8 1 0 0 4 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2025– New Zealand 1 0 0 0 0
As of 21 October 2025
Medal record Women's rugby sevens Representing New Zealand Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team competition Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast Team competition Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 San Francisco Team competition

Shakira Baker (born 4 January 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union & rugby league player. She has represented New Zealand in both the fifteens and sevens rugby, plus New Zealand.

Rugby career

2011

Baker made her provincial debut at 16 for Wellington before making her test debut for the Black Ferns in 2011 against England.

2012

Baker was one of the 800 young women who attended the “Gold for Gold” Sevens trials in 2012 organized to identify talent with the potential to represent New Zealand in the Sevens competition at the Rio Olympics. At the trial she attended she was put through various fitness, rugby skills and character assessment activities. She was one of the most promising 30 who then attended a camp at Waiouru. This led to Baker playing both for the Sevens team as well as the Fifteen a side Black Ferns.

2013

In 2013 during a routine medical exam an electrocardiogram led to the discovery that she had a rare disorder of the heart's electrical system called Long QT syndrome which can lead to dangerous heart rhythms, fainting and sudden cardiac arrest. In her case it can be triggered by physical activity. She was treated first with a sympathectomy, where the nerve that controls the heart rate was burned in order to prevent it going over a certain rate, before key-hole surgery was used to cut the nerve supply to her heart. As a result, she missed most of the 2013 rugby season. Despite the success of the treatment it is necessary to have a defibrillator close by whenever she plays. Her first game back for the Sevens was at Dubai at the end of 2013.

2014–23

Baker then incurred a knee injury early in 2014 from which she recovered in time to be named in the Black Ferns squad to the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Baker was selected for the New Zealand women's sevens team to the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2022, she was named as a non-travelling reserve for the Black Ferns Sevens squad to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

In December 2022, She was confirmed as one of three final signings for Hurricanes Poua for the 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season.

2024

On 20 September 2024 it was reported that she had signed for the New Zealand Warriors to play in the NRLW

Personal life

She is related to New Zealand Sevens star Gilles Kaka. Of Māori descent, Baker affiliates to the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.

External links

• Shakira Baker at the Black Ferns (archive)
• Shakira Baker at the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (archived)
• Shakira Baker at the New Zealand Olympic Committee
• Shakira Baker at Olympics.com
• Shakira Baker at Olympedia
• Shakira Baker at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (archived)
• Shakira Baker on Instagram