Noeline Taurua


Dame Noeline Taurua is a New Zealand international netball coach and former representative player. She is currently head coach of the New Zealand national netball team, the Silver Ferns.

Playing career

Taurua was a member of the Silver Ferns from 1993–99. During that time she won a silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and a bronze medal at the 1995 Netball World Championships in Birmingham. A knee injury in 1999 ended her playing career, having played in 34 test matches for the Silver Ferns.

Coaching career

In 2011, Taurua acted as unofficial assistant coach to the Silver Ferns alongside Ruth Aitken The follow year she accepted an official position as Silver Ferns assistant coach after being offered the role several times. In domestic netball, Taurua coached the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic from 2002–13, leading them to two National Bank Cup titles and one ANZ Championship title.
In 2013, Taurua decided to finish her coaching duties for the Silver Ferns after performing in the role for 1.5 seasons for family reasons She also stepped down as head coach of the Magic after spending 11 years at the franchise. Her replacement at the Magic was former New South Wales Swifts coach Julie Fitzgerald. Taurua later accepted a role as head coach for the Southern Steel in their final ANZ Championship season in 2016.
After the dissolution of the ANZ Championship in 2016, the Sunshine Coast Lightning announced the signing of Taurua heading into the 2017 season of the Suncorp Super Netball league in Australia. Taurua coached the Lightning to back-to-back premierships in the new competition, before being selected as the head coach of the New Zealand national netball team in August 2018. During her time as Silver Ferns head coach, New Zealand won the 2018 Fast5 Netball World Series and 2019 Netball World Cup. As well as being the national team coach, Taurua continued to coach the Lightning in Australia. On 20 August 2019, Taurua announced her departure from the Lightning after her third year coaching the team. She departed the Lightning having coached them to two consecutive premierships and one minor premiership.

Awards

In the 2020 New Year Honours, Taurua was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to netball.