An all-time great, Kelly Brazier’s 2010 World Cup kickstarted a Black Ferns rugby career to be envious of
Final Score: New Zealand 13-10 England
For a girl who used to get picked on for playing rugby back in Dunedin, Kelly Brazier has sure silenced the haters.
Now 35, and happily married to her partner Tahlia with two young kids, she is winding down on a career that leaves her as one of the most decorated women’s rugby players of all time.
Her achievements include two Sevens World Cup titles, a Commonwealth gold medal, Olympic gold medal and two 15s World Cups, the first of which was the 2010 final when the New Zealand Black Ferns beat England on English soil – and she kicked the winning points the age of 20.
Not bad for someone “who grew up in a little town as the only girl playing rugby”.
Flying start
New Zealand celebrate victory over England in the IRB Womens Rugby World Cup Final. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
That World Cup in 2010, the last women’s tournament held in England until later this year, was very much the making of Brazier’s career.
The baby of the squad, her Test journey was only a year old. It was a two-Test series in England in 2009 when she was awarded her first caps.
A 16-3 win at Esher was followed by a 10-3 loss a week later at Twickenham. Taking the field after the All Blacks played the England men’s team, those 12,500 fans who stuck around for the fixture set an attendance record for a women’s International that day.
How things have changed. From there, Brazier was nominated for New Zealand Women’s Player of the Year, all but securing her spot in the Black Ferns squad for the 2010 World Cup.
And by the time the tournament rolled around, Brazier was a central piece of the team that once again was joint favourites with hosts England.
“The hype for the World Cup was crazy,” she tells Rugby World.
“I was living with Carla Hohepa in Dunedin at the time and we were pretty much the only ones in the Black Ferns who were from Otago. I remember the excitement of being named and then flying to England.
“You could feel the tension. We were the two favourites and as you saw from 2009, there was never a big margin against the English.”
Read more: All you need to know about the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup
Times have changed
On arriving in England, the World Cup had a very different look to this year’s tournament. Whereas 2025 will see eight host cities, the 2010 tournament was exclusively held at the University of Surrey Sports Park in Guildford before the semi-finals and final moved to the nearby Twickenham Stoop.
An experience that gave off a student vibe all of its own.
“For that tournament we all stayed at the University of Surrey on campus and just stayed at the digs,” explains Brazier.
“Usually you wouldn’t see an opposition in Test-match week until the game. Here you would see all the teams all the time in the dining area. The games were also on site at the university, so you would see the other teams preparing for their games, you would see more of your opposition than you usually would.”
These intimate circumstances and ability to keep a closer eye on the opposition did little to unsettle the Black Ferns and England en route to the final.
Both were dominant in the pool stages and their respective semi-finals, setting up the expected final. By the time the two teams met, they had only conceded a combined four tries through the whole tournament while racking up 334 points, conceding only 33.
New Zealand’s Carla Hohepa gestures while doing the haka before the game against England during the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010 Final (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)
The pre-tournament expectation that it was a procession towards a England-New Zealand final had come to fruition and it was no surprise that the showpiece would come down to the smallest moments and finest margins.
“We played each other twice the year before and had both won a game each, each of them very close. We knew it was going to be tight, so it was no surprise there was only three points in it in the final. It was a matter of who was going to crack first and to be fair it was probably us when we got three yellow cards, but somehow we managed to stay in the fight.
“We felt okay after the initial card. We had the momentum at that point, the territory and we just needed to convert it to points. Then when we had the two cards at the same time, there was a bit of worry. I don’t think I’d ever played with 13 players until that moment, especially in a World Cup final. But we had full confidence in the squad in any scenario and there was a real never-say-die attitude to us. We still felt on top despite being down to 13. Maybe that was me being young and naive thinking it was all cool. I’m sure if you asked the more experienced players, they would have had a different view!”
Related: How the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup was won
Despite the yellow cards, the Black Ferns were largely in the ascendancy through the game and it took some incredible last-ditch defending from the hosts to keep the game in touching distance.
The Black Ferns scored a first-half try through Hohepa shortly after returning to a full complement, the winger finishing off an effective snipe from scrum-half Emma Jensen.
That was cancelled out in the second half by Red Roses winger Charlotte Barras, who bundled herself over following a period of domination from her pack. With the scores tied at 10-all with 15 minutes left to play, a penalty in kicking distance gave the Black Ferns the chance to pull ahead again. Step forward, Brazier.
“Looking back I was so naive. I was up for taking the penalty as soon as we got it,” laughs Brazier.
“It went over! I probably miss that in my game now, the fearless confidence in your ability. Man, it was cool that I had that attitude. I may be talking differently now if I’d missed it!”
Ultimately, Brazier did not miss and it ended up being the points that won the Black Ferns the World Cup. At full-time, she jumped on housemate Hohepa in pure, unbridled joy at what the team had just achieved – beating a favoured England away from home in a game that went down to the very last play.
Celebration time
Kelly Brazier of New Zealand kicks the winning penalty during the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup Final between England and New Zealand. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
It was a big victory that warranted an even bigger celebration.
“I got wrapped in this big banner and thrown at the back of the bus on the way back after the final. I think we went back to the university first and then our team manager had booked a bar where we met all our family and friends – celebrating the achievement and it’s exactly what I did,” remembers Brazier.
“It was a long night that went into the day. I can remember vividly myself and Carla were due to stay in Europe for a bit of holiday straight after the tournament, but we had to delay everything by a day because we were so hungover. My mum tried taking us out for food; we ordered these burgers but we didn’t touch it and sat there in silence. It took us a few days to recover. I ended up going to Paris, London and then Oktoberfest in Munich for a few days to keep the celebrations going. I came back through LA too to finish the celebrations in style.”
Brazier was part of the 2017 Black Ferns team that regained the World Cup from England following the Red Roses success in 2014. That 2017 final took place in Belfast in front of 17,115 fans. The 2014 final was a sell-out of 20,000 in Paris while the 2010 final saw 13,253 cram into The Stoop.
All those were surpassed last time out in New Zealand when the 2022 final saw 42,579 pack into Eden Park – a seminal moment in the women’s game. This year’s final is set to take the game to an even more unimaginable height.
Set at Twickenham, a sell-out 82,000 is on the cards, which would be a record for a women’s rugby game. Quite the jump from the 12,500 that watched the Black Ferns against England 16 years ago, and proof of how far the game has come in the duration of Brazier’s stellar career.
“I’ve got to play in both eras of the game. In 2010, women’s rugby wasn’t massive. Now we are full-time professionals and girls are recognised in the street. We are going to have 82,000 at the World Cup final and I think that is insane.
“The fight that females have been through to be paid to play rugby, seeing where it is now, I feel an overwhelming sense of pride. I get to be a part of it still too and it happened so fast. I love that I’ve been around to see the change.
“Look at someone like Jorja Miller for the Black Ferns. She’s come from high school straight into a professional environment. Fifteen years ago, you’d come in for a couple of days’ camp, then play a Test match. These are opportunities for young girls to create a life, travel the world and be paid to play rugby, I love it.”
So do we, Kelly.