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'We expect a fierce battle at set piece': Chelsea Bremner prepares to face England

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 04: Chelsea Bremner of New Zealand faces a challenge from Rosie Galligan of England during the WXV1 match between New Zealand Silver Ferns and England at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart on November 04, 2023 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

Chelsea Bremner is a winner. In 19 tests for the Black Ferns, the lock has won 17 times with a similarly successful record at the domestic level. 

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In 44 appearances for Canterbury, she has 43 wins. In Super Rugby Aupiki, Bremner has beaten every team and enjoys an 8-2 record.

Bremner featured in all 12 tests of the Black Ferns’ euphoric 2022 Rugby World Cup winning season, but times have been chequered since.

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A concussion injury restricted her 2024 Super Rugby Aupiki campaign to three games and she missed the Black Ferns stuttering Pacific Four Series in April and May. 

She returned to the Black Ferns in July and was typically efficient in the 62-0 whitewash of Australia in Brisbane. 

“There were lots of things we were happy with in that game, but there is plenty to work on,” Bremner told RugbyPass.

“We’ve got lots of young players coming through who bring excitement, energy and passion.

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“Combining that natural talent with hard work, we’re excited to see how we will go in England and Canada. Utilising the strengths of our young players while coming up with the right balance to beat Northern Hemisphere teams is an awesome challenge.”

The Black Ferns face England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on September 14th before WXV 1 internationals in Canada against Ireland, France, and England. 

Preparing for an onslaught of rolling mauls and more stifling opposition, the Black Ferns headed to Napier for a week of trial games, followed by a fortnight at the opulent NZCIS (New Zealand Campus of Innovation & Sport).

“NZCIS is incredible. It has everything you need, a gym, good food, which is important for an athlete, single accommodation which gives you your own space, and a massive green room where you can set different temperatures,” Bremner acclaimed. 

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“I love the lifestyle of a full-time athlete. When it gets tough, I remind myself I used to be a schoolteacher. I don’t have to get up at five in the morning to get gym done before a full 9-5 day.”

“We’ve built strong connections and are developing a good game plan.”

“We’re pushing each other to be better. We each have our own strengths but we help each other when we can. There’s a healthy rivalry within the squad.”

Bremner will compete for a locking berth with Maia Roos (25 caps), sister Alana Bremner, and Auckland and Blues rookie Maama Vaipulu who pocketed two championships marking Bremner six months apart. 

Experience might win the day for Bremner as England is stacked in the locking department. World Rugby Player of the Year Zoe Aldcroft has 54 caps,  while Rosie Galligan (16 caps), Abbie Ward (65 caps), and Morwenna Talling (14 caps) are all also named in the training squad.

“England plays good rugby and has done for many years. We expect a fierce battle at set piece but we must be mindful of their other strengths too,” Bremner said.

The Black Ferns and England have played 31 test matches with the Black Ferns holding a 19-11 advantage with an 8-8 draw in 2011.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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