Former Silver Fern Tania Dalton's life support was turned off at 1.26 this afternoon.

The 45 year old had suffered a ruptured internal carotid artery aneurysm while playing social touch rugby last week.

In a statement, the family say they are by her side and she is peaceful.

It's expected that Dalton will slip away when she is ready, anytime from now.

Test results revealed that the internal aneurysm she experienced on Thursday night had resulted in massive blood loss, and ultimately loss of oxygen to the brain for an extended period.

Her family say the damage has now been accepted as irreversible, and so they had no choice but to allow nature to take its course.

A mother of three, Dalton played 37 Tests, mostly at goal shoot, across an 11-year international career which finished in 2007.

She was part of the 2003 world championship-winning team, and also in the side that finished runners-up four years earlier.

Since her retirement, she has been a well-known Sky commentator.