HSBC SVNS star Shiray Kaka helping set a new online social standard

Anyone who watches sevens rugby will know Shiray Kaka. She earned an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, she has a Commonwealth Games bronze, a pocketful of tournament victories and a bucket load of tries to her name. 

But her ‘achievements’ also include 163,700 followers on TikTok and another 83,000 or so on Instagram. 

Sports stars and their socials. Fans these days get a window into the life of their favourite athletes in a way they never could before. Sevens rugby players are no different to other elite athletes. Social media goes with the territory. But while some players stick to dancing trends or gym training for their content, some are out on the big wide web, building real connections.

Of the many thousands of online eyeballs focused on Kaka, many belong to people who aren’t rugby fans. She has found a way of connecting with people through content that goes beyond what she is capable of on a rugby field. 

Take a short scroll through her Tiktok feed, and you will find a mix of fostered puppies, tears on camera, a hairy armpit reveal, and singing with Stormzy. The common thread throughout: Kaka’s all-out authenticity.

We got the chance to chat as we headed to the Dubai 7s to work as ambassadors at the opening tournament of the HSBC SVNS 2025 season. Kaka’s ACL injury afforded her some time to perform an off-field role.

“I want to see colours!” she jokes as she explains the motivation behind her content. Kaka went through her own mental health challenges, which informs a large part of her online output. “When I first started playing rugby it was for all the wrong reasons, so when everything went wrong – I got injured, I lost my contract – it was the end of the world.”

She started posting with greater purpose during the Covid-19 pandemic. “I just felt like the happiness and stuff that I had found in my life, I could be sharing it. Because I had all that depression, all that sort of stuff, when I came out the other end I was like, ‘Wow, life is so beautiful – how can I share this with others?’.”

Rugby, bogged down in its traditional sense of modesty, has at times been slow to bestow individuals with celebrity status. But now a generation of players, particularly women, are doing it for themselves. What does line up with rugby’s values is that this phase of online creators, who also play rugby, is that they are role models for others. 

But, for Kaka, inspiring others is a byproduct…“I don't think I set out to inspire or anything like that,” she said. “I’ve got my three kind-of values that I sit by – ‘love’, ‘worth’, and ‘fun’. So if I am coming from that place each time then I’m kind of winning.”

Kaka grew up in Hamilton, and reflects honestly that life could easily have been worse for her. Trouble was not far away when she was growing up. 

She reflects that her core values actually come from navigating family trauma after difficult family dynamics and her father leaving. “Love is something I felt like I was missing out on,” she said. “I felt unworthy. I was chasing all the wrong things.” 

But, she said, she has since found, “true love in what I’m doing, and my partner, and my friends and family.”

Part of her gratitude for life originates from this perspective on how much she has achieved. It’s also a perspective that helps keep her grounded – though this comes with its own challenges. “A lot of people tell you to be yourself … but it's actually quite hard to do. Some people are like, ‘What are you? What are you doing? Yuck, I don’t like you!’.”

Some of the criticism Kaka receives online targets her relationship with Gillies, her husband and a former NZ sevens star. Their relationship is one plot that you can follow on her feeds. It features their light-heated home dynamic and mutual gentle mocking of one another. But this seemingly harmless fun prompts online trolls to critique their homelife.

This is the pitfall of opening yourself up to the world and Kaka admitted that she occasionally has to, “look in the mirror or go to Gillies or my closest friends and just remember who I’m doing it for”. 

So who is she doing it for? “I’ve got a saying: when I first started, and the reason I started, was for people to find a sense of happiness when they see my stuff.”

Kaka is by no means the only sevens superstar setting a social standard. 

Ilona Maher is a viral sensation – her Olympic medal and second-place finish on Dancing with the Stars propelled her already sky-high social media numbers into outer space. Maher – now playing XVs with Bristol Bears – recently went viral (again!) as she explained the need to find another source of income while playing sevens rugby professionally. Her content creation delivered this for her. 

While this is not Kaka’s motivation, her platform is creating opportunities including presenting, sponsored posts and ambassador roles.

With a youtube channel in the pipeline there is more to come, she said. “I want people to know that I’m not just Shiray the rugby player, I’m Shiray the wife, I’m Shiray the dog lover, I’m Shiray the animal lover, I’m Shiray the idiot…”. 

I cut her off to tell her that this last part is what I’d seen most of that week! But that is just a joke. She is a brilliant presence and inspires many young people – with her rugby, of course –  but perhaps more through her online discourse. She now sits in the realm of celebrity in New Zealand and, as we roamed around Dubai, fans posed with their idol and I was more than happy to take the photos… for that weekend, anyway.