10,000km, five hours and one piece of Australian rugby history

Two siblings with two tries for Australia in one weekend – that’s how Katalina Amosa and her big brother Brandon Paenga-Amosa spent last Saturday.

Katalina, 23, opened the family’s scoresheet when she made her Women’s World Cup debut for the Wallaroos in Manchester. The hooker made her contribution in a 73-0 rout of Samoa in their opening match of the tournament, scoring from a lineout inside the opening two minutes.

Her older brother, Brandon, 29, watched his sister score and about 15 minutes more of the game before having to switch it off to get ready for his own Test appearance against South Africa in Cape Town. Five hours after Katalina, Brandon scored an identical try for the Wallabies.

Even though Brandon watched Katalina’s try scored some 10,000km away live, she didn’t see her brother’s try.

“I actually wasn’t in the team room for the try, I missed it, I was just getting ready,” she laughed before adding that she “definitely saw the replays”.

“It was a very physical game,” Katalina said of the Wallabies match. “Unfortunate not to get the win, but I think he did well once he came on, and I’m very proud of him as well.”

The Amosa tries were, unsurprisingly, the first time a brother and sister had scored tries for Australia on the same day. Only three brothers and sisters have ever achieved the feat of playing for Australia, with Kristy and Matt Giteau, and Adiana and Sam Talakai, the other two.

Remarkably, though, the Giteaus scored tries for the Wallaroos and Wallabies in consecutive days of each other in 2009.

Despite spending their teenage years butting heads, Katalina and Brandon are now close.

“To be fair, growing up, we weren’t that close. We always used to fight, and it probably wasn’t until I hit my early 20s, that’s when we were like ‘okay, you’re not too bad. We can work this out, we can be friends’.”

Now, Katalina says her brother is her biggest supporter: “He’s like constantly proud of me, and he always voices that. He’s very big on taking it all in and making sure I’m just present in the moment, making sure I realise that I’m doing something pretty special. He’s very, very supportive, very proud of me.”

Outside of giving his younger sister advice, Brandon also plotted a secret plan for the two of them ahead of the World Cup. It was his idea that they sit in the same spot for the Wallabies and Wallaroos team photos over the weekend.

“It was a bit hard because we’re different heights, and I’m not the tallest... There was a lot of planning. Because I was like ‘I can’t sit in the back row’, he was like ‘I can’t sit in the middle row’ so I’m glad we’re able to find that front row [spot].”

Brandon has promised Katalina that he’ll fly out to England if the Wallaroos make the final. Meanwhile, their mum, Christine, travelled to South Africa to watch Brandon in Cape Town and flies to the UK later this week to watch Katalina in Australia’s match against the US on Sunday.

If they make it to the final, the Wallaroos will play in front of a sold-out stadium of 82,000 supporters in Twickenham. It is set to be the largest crowd at a women’s rugby match in history, and outsells the largest crowds at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“It’s quite amazing because I think it just shows that people do care and do find interest in women’s rugby and people are willing to pay attention and come and support the girls,” Katalina said.

Watch all the action from the 2025 Rugby Championship on Stan Sport.