Kelly Brazier (born 28 October 1989) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and sevens player. She has played

flyhalf In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and fullback for the

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournamen ...

, New Zealand's women's national rugby team, and has competed at three

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

s in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. She has represented

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

and the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

in the

Farah Palmer Cup The Farah Palmer Cup (formerly known as Women's Provincial Championship until 2016), is the highest level domestic women's rugby union competition in New Zealand and is named after the former Black Ferns captain, Farah Palmer. This contest is hel ...

. Brazier has also represented the Black Ferns sevens team in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...

, the Women's Sevens Series, and the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. She has won gold medals in every major sevens tournaments.

Early career

Brazier was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

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 physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

in summer and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

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. 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 Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the l ...

at the University Oval in Dunedin.

Rugby career

2009–10

Brazier made her international debut against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 14 November 2009 at Pillar Data Arena, in

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...

, when Black Ferns won 16–3. In the second test match played at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

in front of a record crowd of 12500 people Black Ferns was defeated 10–3. 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. She was also named the Otago Institute of Sport and Adventure's top sportsperson in 2009 and 2010. Brazier took part in the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limite ...

, playing a key role in the Black Ferns' success in the final against

and becoming the leading point scorer with 4 tries, 11 conversions and 2 penalties. She scored her first try during the match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

thanks to a fine pass by

Anna Richards Anna Mary Richards (born 3 December 1964) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. She represented at four World Cups — 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010. Richards played representative tennis and netball before debuting for the Black Ferns on ...

2011

After going to coach and play for Clan Rugby in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, 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 – and some other victories against Manawatu Cyclones and her former team Otago Spirit, Canterbury failed to reach the final. In October 2011, she was called by New Zealand head coach

Grant Hansen Grant Hansen is an Australian Indigenous musician and broadcaster who has worked as a host of the Marngrook footy show, broadcast on National Indigenous TV network as well as Channel 31, Foxtel, ABC and SBS . He has worked as a radio announcer / ...

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 The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dubl ...

. At the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, Brazier was scored the winning try in the grand final against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 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.

2022

Brazier was named in the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. She won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. She later won a silver medal in her third

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

2023

After the final leg of the 2022–23 Women's Sevens Series, Brazier will be taking an eight-week sabbatical in Japan to coach the Brave Louve in the 2023 Taiyo Seimei Women’s Sevens Series. Her role as ‘spot coach’ will include working on the game plan and player skills.

Personal life

Brazier is openly lesbian and her wife Tahlia gave birth to their first child in 2020.

References

External links

Black Ferns profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brazier, Kelly 1989 births Living people New Zealand people of English descent New Zealand people of Irish descent New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's international rugby union players New Zealand women's international rugby sevens players New Zealand female rugby sevens players Otago rugby union players Canterbury rugby union players People educated at Otago Girls' High School Otago Polytechnic alumni Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for New Zealand Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from Dunedin Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand New Zealand LGBT sportspeople New Zealand lesbians LGBT rugby union players Lesbian sportswomen Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games