The Israel Folau of women's rugby

Ellia Green in action for the Ratettes.

SHE is the international athletics star who has reinvented herself as the Israel Folau of women's rugby.

Ellia Green represented Australia at the World Junior Athletics Championships last year and has run 100m in a scorching 11.2 seconds.

Now the 20-year-old has made a seamless transition from the running track to the rugby field with a clear goal in mind.

"We all have our eyes on Rio, going to the Olympics in sevens is my goal," Green said.

And just like Folau this rugby rookie has quickly made a big impact in her new code, playing for Australia in her debut season as a member of the national sevens team.

Green showcased her amazing talent with a scintillating performance in the Warringah Ratettes side that defeated Parramatta 20-11 in the women's rugby grand final at Pittwater Rugby Park last Saturday.

She sprinted 75m to score her first try, 60m for her second and, for good measure, pulled off a trysaving tackle five minutes from fulltime.

Every time Green handled the ball there was the similar air of expectation amongst the crowd as there is whenever Folau gets involved in the action with the Waratahs and Wallabies.
 

Ellia Green in action against Parramatta. Source:

"I haven't played much 15s and I am doing it for the experience and for the contact," she said.

"It was amazing, we had so much fun and we had each other's backs and worked as a team."

As for her two spectacular tries Green said: "It was priceless, I can't explain the feeling. I just wanted to do it for the girls and I am so proud of them."

She said winning the grand final ranked up there with scoring the final try in Australia's win over New Zealand while playing in her first IRB Sevens tournament in the US.

Green started playing rugby after being recruited through the ARU talent identification "Pathway to Gold" program with an eye to the introduction of sevens rugby to the Rio Olympics.

"I went to a trial in December because my cousins wanted me to try out for it," she said. "They said 'you have to play rugby Ellia, you will go far'.

"I went through three different camps to get into the Aussie team and I really love it."

It is a major career change for Green who has represented Australia in the 100m, 200m and the long jump.

Last year she competed in the World Junior Championships, an IAAF Series and a Telsta A Series.

Green has gone from strength to strength since making her Australian Sevens debut at in January at the IRB Women's Sevens World Series in Houston.

The excitement machine hails from Victoria where she made her mark in athletics and also played with the Melbourne Tigers basketball team before recently moving up to Sydney to pursue her new sport.

"I'm dedicating it all to sevens- hopefully I will be training fulltime next year," Green said.

Ratettes coach Erin Morton said as this is Green's first season playing rugby, she still has a lot to learn.

"She goes alright, doesn't she," Morton said.

"At the end of the day with speed like that, you just have to get the ball to her."

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