The Hawke’s Bay star has sidelined her Black Ferns dream and made new goals. Photo / Eva Bradley
It was meant to be a regular Saturday morning match in May for Hurricanes player Teilah Ferguson. But a devastating accident, leaving her blind in one eye, dashed her dream of becoming a Black Fern and changed her life forever.
Teilah and her team, the Hawke’s Bay Tui, were in commanding form, running up a 60-0 lead as the game wound down. With several players already sidelined by injury, Teilah suggested they end the match early, but the other players felt they should finish the game.
In the very next play, she was struck down in a try gone wrong.
“I went for the tackle and we fell to the ground, but the other player’s legs kept pumping,” the 25-year-old recalls. “In the process, her leg flicked up and the boot hit me in the eye.”
Teilah dropped to the ground, clutching her eye, initially thinking it was a concussion. Her best friend and physio, Leah Tuhi, checked her on the field, but her eye had swollen shut, making it impossible to assess the damage.
As her mum, fellow Tui player Julie Ferguson, drove her to the hospital, Teilah inspected the damage and found there were no cuts or bruises on her face. She realised the force of the hit had gone directly into her eye, but was still hopeful she’d be back on the field in time for the play-offs.
When she arrived at the hospital and the shock wore off, Teilah says the pain was like nothing she had felt before. Only Fentanyl could take the edge off.
“The only way I can describe it’s like having a knife stabbed in your eye, hitting your brain and slowly turning around,” she recalls.
That night, she underwent surgery to determine the extent of the damage. What was supposed to take two hours stretched into eight.
The moment Teilah saw the surgeon’s face when they arrived to discuss what they’d found, she knew the prognosis was dire.
“I could tell in the way she was presenting herself that it wasn’t good,” says Teilah. “She said they tried to form a structural eyeball, but I had done really good damage and there was no chance of my eyesight returning. The world slowed down in that moment.”
Teilah was discharged a day later and, as she puts it, “started my new one-eyed life”, with her mum and Leah taking care of her.
It’s five months after her accident when Teilah sits down to chat with the Weekly and she’s remarkably positive about the life-changing news.
In 2024, she thought her rugby career was over when she was unable to play after a herniated disc left her with a numb leg. So to have been able to return for one last season has made this tough pill easier to swallow.
“It’s definitely been a rollercoaster,” admits Teilah. “When I was discharged, I said to my friend, ‘I really need to take things day by day.’ The worst thing I can do is think about the woulda, coulda, shouldas of that game or all the things that I can’t do.”
Still, there are times she longs to be back in the game. Attending a recent Black Ferns match in Wellington was emotional as she let go of the dream she’d held since she first started playing at five.
“I definitely had a moment watching that game,” Teilah shares. “I would always tell myself that I wasn’t going to buy a Black Ferns jersey – I wanted to earn it. But I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll buy my jersey now.’”
Rugby still plays a massive role in Teilah’s life. She works at Hawke’s Bay Rugby as the female rugby activator, supporting teams from kindergarten age all the way to the women’s side. She’s also joined the coaching staff for the region’s under-18 girls’ squad.
She has a newfound passion for CrossFit. Never one to do anything by halves, Teilah – who runs a mobile sauna business – has already discovered an adaptive division at the CrossFit Games that she plans to compete in.
Life is different now, but Teilah is finding happiness in new ways, including the simple pleasure of reclaiming her weekends.
“For the past eight years, every Saturday was about rugby,” tells Teilah. “Last Saturday, I worked at the sauna and went to the gym in the morning, then spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun by the beach. I thought about the Tui girls on the bus to Rotorua and I was like, ‘I’m not jealous of that!’”