Between Two Beers podcast: Kendra Cocksedge on prank wars, haka fear, Celine Dion and future

Kendra Cocksedge of the Black Ferns leads the haka. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

Kendra Cocksedge is one of the world's best rugby players. But her journey to the top hasn't been all smooth sailing.

Cocksedge is the most capped Black Fern of all time and the team's record point scorer who recently announced her retirement from rugby after a stellar career.

In 2019 she became the first female player to win the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Trophy for New Zealand Rugby Player of the Year. She was also recognised by World Rugby as the International Women's Player of the Year in 2015 and was named as part of the World Rugby Team of the Decade for the 2010s.

Growing up playing with boys in Taranaki from the age of four, Kendra turned away from a promising cricket career when she was called up by the Black Ferns in 2007 and learned valuable lessons from nine years sitting on the bench. Eventually, she rose to the very top of the game and enjoyed a fairytale end to her domestic rugby career. But Kendra is not done yet, with one more World Cup assignment ahead of her.

In this episode she talks about how she dealt with missing out on the Olympics with the All Blacks sevens in 2016, why she spent nine years on the bench, hilarious nicknames, surprising her parents by leading the haka in her last game in Christchurch, the influence of Celine Dion, prank wars with Joe Moody and much more.

Show notes | Episode 97 | Kendra Cocksedge

2:27: NotDoneYet

8:59: A few tales from Kendra: school days, prank wars, axes and bike ramps

17:08: Leading the haka

23:11: Celine Dion

25:52: A fairytale finish to a Canterbury career

31:16: Back to barefoot rugby in Okato

41:34: The cricket career that could have been

45:58: Entering the Black Ferns environment at age 19

51:01: Mental health

54:17: Playing in Club footy

55:44: Nine years as a back up Black Fern

58:20: Taking a break from rugby

59:36: The changing perceptions of women's rugby

1:07:07: Winning the World Rugby Player of the Year in 2015…

1:10:34 …and then backing it up with the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Trophy in 2018

1:19:47: The effect of Covid-19 on Kendra

1:21:35: If you can see it you can be it

1:24:18: The physical toll of 30 years in rugby

1:27:48: Nicknames

1:31:22: Last words from Steven, Seamus and Kendra

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