It’s another double header for Reds Rugby Rules this week! I was lucky to catch up with Natassja Purontakanen, a talented flanker for the Queensland Reds Super W side.
Coming off a huge win against Melbourne last week, it was good to hear the latest ahead of this week’s clash with the New South Wales Waratahs! This game is sure to be a great one, I’ll be down at Ballymore stadium to watch. (Kickoff is 3:05pm. See you there!)
In the meantime, enjoy my conversation with Natassja!
Hi Natassja, Nice to meet you. Thanks for taking time for this interview!
Lovely to meet you! Thanks very much for having me, I really appreciate it.
I know you probably get asked this a lot, but which country does your name come from?
It’s from Finland. My Mum’s side of the family is Finish, my Dad’s Australian.
Let’s talk about Super W! How are you feeling after last weeks game?
Yeah, really good. We’ve come off the back of two really good wins, so that was really exciting. Hopefully it’s prepared us well, going into a tough game this weekend. But yeah, you can’t be upset with a 104, but this weekend will be tough, so I’m really excited.
Congrats on scoring a try!
Thank you! Yeah, it was my first try for Super W, so it was very exciting, in front my friends and family. It was nice to be there.
I’m looking forward to watching the game at Ballymore this weekend. What’s been the teams focus this week, ahead of the New South Wales game?
Really, just trying to stick to our structures. We’re just want to make sure we’re going in there clearly knowing what we’re doing. We’ve got a really good attacking team, but we know we’re going to need to defend at some point. So we’re pretty heavily focusing on defence as well.
You were playing at Number 7 last week, now you’ve been named at number 6. What’s your favourite field position to play in?
To be honest, I’ve only really played 7. I haven’t played too much rugby. I only had one season, before I did my knee last time. But I really love 7. It’s kind of a mixture of forwards and backs-ish. I kind of get to float between the two. It’s really fun getting engaged with both positions.
You had an unfortunate injury last year, but you’ve fought your way back. What’s something you learnt during your recovery?
I had to learn a lot of resilience, I would say. It was a really tough year, not just physically, but mentally. Just trusting the process and just sticking to what the experts knew, like the trainer that I was training with. All I wanted to do was jump the gun and get back on the field and play touch footy or rugby. It was tough, but I made it through and I’m really glad I listened to everything they said, because I feel like I’ve come back fitter and stronger.
What first inspired you to play rugby?
As a kid, I would always play backyard footy with my brother. I was always out there with the boys and always wanted to play, but I never saw much opportunity over on the north side of Brisbane. So then one of my friends started playing Sevens at UQ and then I saw it on Instagram and I said “hey, I’m really keen to join” and she said “yeah come down, the team’s really awesome”. I went down and I just fell in love with it. So that was my beginning. That would’ve been around 2017 I think.
Thanks for taking time out to chat. I’ll see you here at the stadium on Saturday! Go Reds!
Go Reds! Thank you so much for having me. I think your interviews are really cool, I read your one with Courtney the other day. It’s really nice to see that someone is getting behind the women and is interested in what they have to say. I think it’s awesome.
Make sure you catch Natassja and the Reds take on the NSW Waratahs on Saturday at 3:05pm down at good old Ballymore.
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