New Zealand rugby union player
Rugby player
Kelly Brazier (born 28 October 1989) is a New Zealand rugby union and sevens player. She has played flyhalf, centre and fullback for the Black Ferns, New Zealand's women's national rugby team, and has competed at three Rugby World Cups in 2010, 2014, and 2017. She has represented Otago, Canterbury and the Bay of Plenty in the Farah Palmer Cup.
Brazier has also represented the Black Ferns sevens team in the Olympic Games, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Women's Sevens Series, and the Commonwealth Games. She has won gold medals in every major sevens tournaments.
Early career
Brazier was born in Dunedin to an English father and an Irish mother who came to New Zealand with their first child Tony. Her sport career started at five when her two-years-older brother took her to a rugby field, and was split between touch in summer and rugby during winter.
Brazier was in New Zealand's U21 mixed touch team at 14 and in New Zealand secondary schoolgirls team at 15. She also began to play in Alhambra Union rugby in 2003 and Otago Spirit provincial selection in 2004.[2] She entered New Zealand rugby's record books on 2 May 2009, when she scored 64 points – ten tries and seven conversions – for her club in the Otago Metropolitan Women's Premier match against Kaikorai at the University Oval in Dunedin.[3]
Rugby career
2009–10
Brazier made her international debut against England on 14 November 2009 at Pillar Data Arena, in Esher, when Black Ferns won 16–3.[4] In the second test match played at Twickenham in front of a record crowd of 12500 people Black Ferns was defeated 10–3.[5]
Brazier was among the nominees for the 2009 Steinlager Rugby Awards for NZRU Women's Player of the Year with Carla Hohepa and Victoria Heighway, who won.[6][7] She was also named the Otago Institute of Sport and Adventure's top sportsperson in 2009 and 2010.[8]
Brazier took part in the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup, playing a key role in the Black Ferns' success in the final against England and becoming the leading point scorer with 4 tries, 11 conversions and 2 penalties.[9][10] She scored her first try during the match against South Africa thanks to a fine pass by Anna Richards.[11]
2011
After going to coach and play for Clan Rugby in Edmonton, Canada for four months, Brazier went back to New Zealand for the start of Women's NPC with Canterbury. In spite of a good debut with her new team – two tries in a 60–0 win over Hawke's Bay Tuis[12] – and some other victories against Manawatu Cyclones and her former team Otago Spirit, Canterbury failed to reach the final.[13]
In October 2011, she was called by New Zealand head coach Grant Hansen to play three tests against England, a tour which concluded with two losses and a draw for Black Ferns and only 5 points for her (a conversion and a penalty).
2017–19
Brazier was named in the squad for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup.[14][15] At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Brazier was scored the winning try in the grand final against Australia, running 80 metres and securing gold for New Zealand. In 2019, she was part of the winning team of the Women's Super Rugby Series.[16]
2022
Brazier was named in the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.[17][18] She won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games.[19][20] She later won a silver medal in her third Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.[21][22][23]
2023
After the final leg of the 2022–23 Women's Sevens Series, Brazier took an eight-week sabbatical in Japan to coach the Brave Louve in the 2023 Taiyo Seimei Women’s Sevens Series.[24][25] Her role as ‘spot coach’ included working on the game plan and player skills.[25]
Returning to the New Zealand team for the 2023-24 season Brazier scoring her one hundredth try in the team's quarterfinal win over Brazil in the Dubai tournament on 2–3 December 2023.[26]
Personal life
Brazier is openly lesbian and her wife Tahlia gave birth to their first child in 2020.[27][28]
References
External links
