The Black Fern dubbed the Sachin Tendulkar of New Zealand Rugby

Former Otago coach John Kyle called Kelly Brazier “the Sachin Tendulkar of New Zealand Rugby.”

Kyle started Brazier as a 14-year-old in the 2004 NPC, something he couldn’t get away today.

Two decades later, when she took the field at the Cape Town Sevens last weekend, Brazier joined Sarah Hirini, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Michaela Blyde and Tyla Nathan-Wong as the only Black Ferns Sevens players to have appeared in 50 tournaments

That possibility wasn’t certain earlier this year. During her first preseason training, she suffered a minor calf tear. The following week she returned only to realise her achilles was damaged. Brazier missed the Paris Olympics and has signed to play for Chiefs Manawa in Super Rugby Aupiki 2025.

In December 2020 Brazier was named second five-eighth in the World Rugby Women’s 15’s Team of the Decade (2010-19). She is a winner of the 2010 and 2017 Rugby World Cups.

In sevens, she has won two World Cups, seven World Series titles, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medal, and is among the top 20 try scorers of all-time celebrating her 100th try at the 2023 Dubai Sevens. In 2010 she even played for the Aotearoa Maori women’s sevens team that won the Roma Sevens. In 2011 and 2021 she played professionally for Clansmen in Edmonton where she won six local titles.

What’s left to prove?

“I want to finish on my own terms. I’ve worked hard to get the body back in one piece,” Brazier told RugbyPass.

“Fifty tournaments is not something I think about. Each year it’s been about wanting to improve and enjoy the game.”

Brazier found enjoyment playing for Bay of Plenty in the Farah Palmer Cup this year. A young Volcanix side improved on their 2023 showing by winning two matches and narrowly missing the Premiership semi-finals.

Brazier said her time with the Bay was pivotal to get her brain and body moving again and a reminder of the “energy” and want” of younger girls some of whom worked eight-hour days and then drove two hours each way to practice.

That work ethic and prodigious talent set Brazier apart from a young age. She first made a national impression in touch where at 14 years old she was selected for the New Zealand Under 21 mixed touch team. She made the New Zealand Secondary Schools Girls’ team at 15.

On May 2, 2009, she scored a record 64 points – ten tries and seven conversions – for her club Alhambra Union in the Otago Metropolitan Women’s Premier match against Kaikorai at the University Oval in Dunedin. It beat the record of 42 points scored by Annaleah Rush (Otago) against the Hanan Shield Districts team in 1999. It was also part of a 56-game winning streak for the Broncos.

Seven months later Brazier made her international fifteens debut for the Black Ferns against England at Pillar Data Arena in Esher, where Black Ferns won 16-3.

Brazier’s speed, smarts, goal-kicking, and versatility made her a natural fit for sevens, where she is one of New Zealand’s most decorated players since the inception of the professional circuit in 2012.

In 2018 her length of the field try against Australia in extra time won the Black Ferns a gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

In 2021 she was a member of the New Zealand Olympic team that won gold in Tokyo. New Zealand beat France 26-12 in the final. With a silver medal in 2016, she joined just 17 other Kiwi women, including legends Barbara Kendall, Dame Valerie Adams and Dame Lisa Carrington to win two or more medals at the Olympics. New Zealand’s first double medallist was Peter Snell, named in 1999 the New Zealand athlete of the century.  Brazier paid tribute to longtime coaches Cory Sweeney and Alan Bunting.

“Cory is the analyst, a deep thinker likely to introduce new strategies. He does a lot of homework and understands the game well. Alan drives the culture. He’s shown real courage to let the girls take more and more ownership. The character and culture of the team is really special. The senior leadership group has different strengths that together complement each other. We’re like one big family,” Brazier said.

Former Bay of Plenty and New Zealand Sevens representative Bunting became a head coach after the Rio Olympics in 2016 and retired after Tokyo. In that period New Zealand won 22 out of 28 tournaments (151 of 160 matches). Brazier has been part of 50, 44 and 41 game win streaks.

“My first tournament was in Houston in 2013 and that was pretty tough. Carla Hohepa tore her achilles and we finished fourth,” Brazier reflected.

“The biggest change has been living in Dunedin training alone to becoming a professional athlete training every day in Mount Maunganui. The times training with mates and enjoying the journey are my biggest memories. Rugby is just the end product,” Brazier said.

She identified Australian Madison Ashby and American Alev Kelter as her toughest individual opponents.

“Alev Kelter is a complete beast. She could run over you and around you, a really physical player. Of late Ashby has been a handful. She’s fit, fast, skillful and nippy.”

Australia was a touch nippy for the Black Ferns Sevens in Dubai winning the Cup final 28-24. Maddison Levi scored an SVNS tournament record 15 tries, including a 90-meter intercept that sunk New Zealand in the desert.

Woodman-Wickliffe (Los Angeles 2024), Blyde (Hong Kong 2024), and Nathan-Wong (Vancouver, 2024) won their 50th tournaments.

Hirini’s 50th tournament finished with a runner-up place to Australia at the 2022 World Cup in Cape Town.

“Kelly’s laid the path for so many other players to follow in her footsteps. She’s a real leader and deserving of her 50th tournament. It’s special for her,” Coach Sweeney said.