Semi-Finals Cancelled for Black Ferns’ Star Player Jorja Miller

That’s exactly what happened to Jorja Miller, the star of New Zealand in women’s rugby. Whether you know her well or you’ve just heard some surface things about her, let the BetHere site refresh your memory a bit — and then let’s find out what happened and why.

Jorja Miller’s Success in New Zealand

Miller was born in a family that loved rugby. Both of her parents and her grandfather played it, so she joined the family tradition back when she was just four years old.

We can track her sports evolution by these milestones:

• Determined to keep playing rugby in a more professional manner even as a teen, Miller transferred to the Christchurch Girls’ High School, which offered better exposure.
• She lucked out: in 2022, the Black Ferns Sevens squad made her an offer, so she joined them and took part in the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
• After that, Miller’s success kept deepening: she got a chance to compete in each of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tournaments, where her talent and skills kept gaining her new fans.
• Miller earned the Player of the Final title, as well as the World Rugby Rookie of the Year award.
• In 2023, Miller signed a four-year contract with New Zealand Rugby, which became the longest contract ever offered to female rugby players.
• She, as a part of Black Ferns Sevens, won gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
• That same year, Miller won the Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year award and the Kelvin R. Tremain Memorial Player of the Year.
• In 2025, Miller made her international debut for the Black Ferns in a match against the USA in the Pacific Four Series, showing herself from the most impressive side.

Everything seemed to be going well, with Miller’s popularity and the number of successful appearances growing all the time.

She has been fully devoted to improving her skills even more — after all, Miller is extremely ambitious. She said more than once that she’s looking forward to achieving something no one else has achieved, be it male or female rugby players.

Unfortunately, we won’t know whether she would have been able to fulfil her goals this year. Miller’s injury left the pathway to the semi-finals closed for her.

What Happened to Jorja Miller

In the exciting and unpredictable quarter-final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, New Zealand managed to beat South Africa with the score of 46-17.

Such a huge victory would have been beyond impressive if not for one devastating detail: Miller injured her left knee heavily, so she was forced to leave the match in its second half.

Some evidence points to the fact that Miller damaged her hamstring, but no official confirmation was released.

On 17 September 2025, it was announced that she won’t be taking part in the semi-final game against Canada — and New Zealand lost this match.

Undoubtedly, this has caused a wave of disappointment and empathy among the fans. The Black Ferns claimed that they cannot share any specific details because Miller wants her privacy respected, and that’s understandable.

Still, the situation doesn’t look good: Miller is still young, so if her injury is serious, this can affect her long-term rugby prospects, essentially killing her ambitions.

Since the injury is fresh, there is no telling when she will recover and whether she will rejoin her squad at some point.

Either way, everyone is eager for her return: fans hope that New Zealand will keep winning with Miller representing it, while other Black Ferns members express their appreciation toward her loyalty and talent.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed, and who knows, Miller might make an unexpected comeback any time this year! Read more sports events in the News section.