Jorja Miller is the best women’s Sevens player in the world, and she is only 21 years old.
Before the Pacific Four matchup of Black Ferns and USA on Saturday, the two sides came together for a press conference on Auckland’s waterfront.
No doubt, speaking to Portia Woodman and Ilona Maher was a major 'pinch me' moment, but it was just as much a privilege to speak to the up-and-coming Jorja Miller.
In Black Ferns’ dominant 79-14 win on Saturday, Jorja made her debut, and looked just as strong and speedy as she does on the Sevens stage.
Jorja and I got a chance to speak about her short-lived basketball career, her influencer life and naturally, a bitta rugby.
Jorja beat me in high school basketball a handful of times, so I have experienced the strength, speed and agility of this girl firsthand.
Lets just say I always moved out the way when I saw her running at me - terrifying scenes.
Of course I had to ask if she ever thought of pursuing both sports, which she cracked up at straight away.
“I’ve thought about it, you know,” she answered, still giggling. “I was never quite so balanced with the left hand layups… so that’s why I came to rugby.”
“Probably a little more work needed for that to happen," she added.
Since entering the NZ rugby scene and tearing it up, Jorja has been active in posting content to TikTok, a lot of it around BTS of an athlete's life, and a LOT of food.
She’s managed to rack up an impressive 10k follower count, with a light 33.9k on Instagram.
When I asked what inspired her to start posting, she said there was “a bit of influence from Louis Davis” who had a “massive impact” on her Sevens group.
Louis Davis is one of NZ’s most famous influencers, with lots of his content centered around his wife and daughter, and empowering women.
In fact, he just ate Kina with Ilona Maher - how cool.
Jorja said that it was important for women's rugby players to “showcase who we are to everybody else".
For Jorja, that’s her love for food: “Food is a big thing for me… I love me some KFC every now and again… and I love cooking, it’s probably my hobby.”
“We’re humans at the end of the day," she said.
The transition from Sevens to 15s is an interesting one for Miller. She is already an Olympic gold medalist and World Player of the Year for Sevens, but is hungry for more.
I asked if being a dual-sport athlete with these two codes is something she sees in her future.
“I’d love to do both,” is her answer. “I’d love to win a few world cups, and a few olympic gold medals.”
Imagine that being your genuinely achievable life goal - one can only dream.
For Jorja it all just depends how it fits into the schedule, but she is very much “focussed on the World Cup for this year.”
It has been inspiring to see Jorja rock the world stage, and I’m eager to see what she does next.
