Matt Porter
With pool play at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland safely negotiated, veteran Black Fern Kendra Cocksedge might take the odd moment to reminisce about the last time she was in this part of the world.
It was nearly two years ago across the Irish Sea in London when Cocksedge walked up to collect the Women’s World Rugby Player of the Year Award. As she bashfully made her way to that large stage, the brilliant No. 9 received a standing ovation from the entire All Blacks squad who were in attendance fresh from winning back-to-back World Cups in Twickenham the previous day.
The World Rugby Awards dinner was the glittering after match of the show-piece tournament with everyone who was anyone in the global game present to witness Cocksedge crowned world’s best.
Among the All Blacks clapping the hardest was Cocksedge’s relative Beauden Barrett. Twelve months later it was Barrett being officially anointed the world’s best player following a breakout season. One extended family from coastal Taranaki boasting the best women and men’s players on the planet in successive years. Not bad going.
So how related are these freakish rugby talents? The All Black Barrett trio of Beauden, Scott and Jordie have a Great Grandad, Mick Goodin, who’s brother Harry was Cocksedge’s Grandad. In other words the Barretts’ great great grandparents and Cocksedge’s great grandparents are the same people – Harry and Mick’s folks Walter Francis and Mary Elizabeth Goodin (nee Carey).
Each branch of the family tree is laden with rugby talent. Brett and younger brother Gareth Goodin, Cocksedge’s first cousins on her mum’s side, both played NZ U19s and Brett played NZ Secondary Schools and was the Taranaki halfback for a number of years.
Grandad Harry and Mick’s sister Mary married into the McEldowney clan that boasts the late All Black loosehead prop John and his fellow Taranaki centurion tighthead brother Bryce in their whakapapa, plus a heap of other prominent Taranaki sports folk.
Cocksedge grew up in the village of Okato, about 25 clicks up the road from the Barretts’ farm in Rahotu, both on the west coastal side of Mt Taranaki.
‘‘We came across the Barretts growing up but not a huge heap,’’ she recalls. Twin Jenna and her two older sisters plus nearby cousins the Sims and Goodins were enough to keep young Cocksedge entertained in the early years.
However, being one of the best women rugby players in the country for more than a decade, her path regularly crosses the Barretts’ today. She and Beauden regularly host a kicking masterclass segment on ’Small Blacks TV’, a popular show for young kiwi rugby fans.
A prolific goal kicker for the Black Ferns, Cocksedge said that while she’s learned off Beauden, who’s three years her junior, ‘‘he’s learned a little bit off me too’’.
It was a few sessions with her male World Rugby Player of the Year 2015 counterpart Dan Carter that had the most profound effect on Cocksedge’s kicking.
‘‘It was more about the processes with kicking, he (Carter) didn’t like to change technique too much because everyone has their own style. There was just little wee things he gave me: how many steps you take back, where you look, follow through and all that kind of stuff.’’
Cocksedge is one of the few New Zealand women to make a full time living out of rugby, courtesy of her job as a New Zealand Rugby Women’s Coordinator for the Crusaders region. In the role she regularly runs into the younger Barretts, Crusader Scott and Jordie when he was playing provincial rugby for Canterbury.
Into her 18th month in the gig, Cocksedge still feels ‘‘pretty lucky’’ to make a full time living out of the sport she loves.
‘‘To wake up every day and get to work on something you’re so passionate about is pretty awesome. I like the idea of giving young girls the opportunity to live the dream that I’m living by working and playing for my country.’’
Like most of her extended whanau, including the Barretts, Cocksedge is a talented cricketer and it was the bat and ball game that initially lured her south from Taranaki with a scholarship at Lincoln University in 2007.
However, later that year the then 19 year-old was first selected for the Black Ferns and it’s been rugby ever since.
She rationalises the ‘‘really hard decision’’ to make between rugby and cricket this way: ‘‘Rugby’s 80 minutes whereas cricket’s six hours. Being a halfback I touch the ball all the time, with cricket I might not touch the ball for a couple of hours.’’
Now in her 11th year in the Black Ferns with 40 Tests under her belt, Cocksedge is the second most capped player in the team in Ireland to contest the World Cup and one of its key leaders. If she had been a male playing for the All Blacks for that duration she would have played well over 100 Tests given the far greater frequency the All Blacks play. Long-term captain Fiao’o Faamausili, playing in her fifth global tournament, racked up 50 caps in the Black Ferns’ final pool match against Canada Friday morning NZT – with the Black Ferns routing them 48-5 – becoming the first New Zealand women to do so.
Cocksedge is also a skilled player of the abbreviated version of the game and was a member of the NZ team that won the inaugural Women’s Sevens World Series in 2013.
The women’s game in New Zealand and around the world has undergone a profound evolution during her decade at the top.
‘‘It’s been through so much growth. When I grew up in Okato I was the only girl playing against all the boys, I think there was two or three girls playing in the whole of Taranaki. Now girls are able to play with other girls from a young age and there’s definite pathways for them.’’
Pathways that she is helping create in her day job.
She lauds the efforts of New Zealand Rugby to grow the women’s game. When Cocksedge first started in the national team their was a main coach and an assistant and not many other support staff. Now there are three coaches and the likes of a media manager and doctor that travels with the team.
‘‘Even with the kit that we get. I remember when we first started it was all men’s sizing and it was too big. We still appreciated anything we got because we were playing for our country, but now we get properly fitted stuff. Just little things like that, it’s pretty crazy how far we’ve come.’’
Another improvement Cocksedge has noted over the years is the greater level of preparation for big tournaments. The Black Ferns had a June series against Canada, Australia and England prior to the current World Cup.
‘‘We never used to have big games like that leading into past World Cups so they are hugely important for us, as were the weekend camps.’’
For the record the Black Ferns beat the Canadians and the Aussies but lost to reigning World Champs England in the leadup series.
England, the world’s only fully professional women’s team, shape as the biggest obstacle between Cocksedge and her second World Cup triumph to go alongside the 2010 Black Ferns win she was such a big part of. The women in white easily took care of Spain 56-5, Italy 56-13 and the USA 47-26 in their opening three matches while the Black Ferns’ were impressive in their 44-12 first up win over Wales followed by the record equalling 121-0 romp over Hong Kong and the win against Canada Friday morning. Cocksedge bagged a 31-point haul in the game against Hong Kong, comprising one try and 13 conversions.
The Black Ferns will meet the USA in one semi-final in Belfast on Thursday (NZT) and if they can beat them, and the English get past their opponents France in the other semi, then a rematch of their June encounter looms.
‘‘England are a world class side but we’re pretty positive that we can beat them. We found some stuff we can counteract their game with,’’ Cocksedge said without going into detail.
‘‘Losing to them in June was character building. It made the girls work super hard on their own little things over the last few weeks. We’re ready for it now, bring it on.’’ ❚ Matt Porter is an Australian based free-lance journalist.