Cocksedge wants Cupwinning Ferns farewell
Canterbury’s Kendra Cocksedge is eyeing up her third World Cup in August as the Black Ferns halfback looks to go out on top.
The Black Ferns wider training squad will assemble in Palmerston North next week for final selections ahead of a threetest series at home and their run to the Women’s Rugby World Cup kicking off in August.
In less than 100 days the team will travel to Ireland in a bid to claim a fifth world title, but they must first host tests against world heavyweights Australia, Canada and England.
The Canterbury and Black Ferns halfback isn’t giving too much away, but at 28 she says she isn’t getting any younger and she certainly isn’t looking another four years ahead
‘‘I haven’t really thought about it too much, I keep saying to people this may be my last year. It’s a tough one. I want to keep playing, but when you think about another four years, it’s a long time.’’
Cocksedge said although she feels fit, a fourth world cup is off the radar, but she does want to keep a hand in the game as long as she can.
‘‘When it feels right. I want to finish when I am at the top of my game.’’
The goal is to win the World Cup this year after missing out on the spoils in 2014, when England took home the silverware.
‘‘The main focus this year is obviously the world cup and having a lead-up series is fantastic. We don’t get a lot of time together in general.
‘‘To have these camps and be together for two-three weeks in training is ideal preparation and we are playing some of the top teams in the world.
‘‘Being world cup year it tends to lift the girls to an extra level and I’d say the girls would be training pretty hard. There’s obviously a bit of competition around and I think with the game growing in general that creates more competition – so these girls will be training harder.’’
In her decade of playing for New Zealand, Cocksedge has seen numbers grow and the women’s game become more professional. However she said there was still a long way to go for the sport to be called a fulltime career for women.
Cocksedge is a rarity, as having a fulltime role and salary in women’s rugby is almost unheard of still and most of her Black Ferns’ team-mates juggle rugby with their primary careers or as fulltime mothers. It is a tough gig she admits, but completely worth it.
‘‘It can be difficult, but we manage. We always tend to find time.’’
‘‘For me it’s a passion so I wake up every day excited about it, knowing I can inspire young girls to want to live the dream that I do. Making this my career is pretty cool, but it is tough as well working 40 hours a week and then training about 15 [hours] on top of that, but I absolutely love it.’’
Cocksedge is employed fulltime by New Zealand Rugby as a women’s rugby coordinator covering the Crusaders region from Christchurch to Nelson.
Her goal is to create a pathway for young girls to play rugby right to international level. NZ Rugby and it’s provincial unions are working on a creating an all-girls league from Rippa Rugby upwards with the aim of stopping the ‘‘drop-off’ in numbers when it comes to tackle rugby – when most girls have to play against boys.
Having the three-test series spread across Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch at the same time as the Lions tour arrives could help put a spotlight on the women’s game.
Christchurch will host a test against Australia on June 13, which will be the first women’s test to be held in the South Island in nine years.
Originally from Taranaki where she began playing rugby at only four-years old, Cocksedge said it would be special to play in the city that is now her home.
She and fellow Cantabrians Phillipa Love, Stephanie Te Ohaere-Fox and Jessie Hansen, the daughter of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, will join a wider training squad of 50 to be narrowed down by Black Ferns selectors next week to just 26 on Friday.
With the introduction of the younger players and a strong national selection process, as well as the sevens stars being available, does Cocksedge feel threatened for her position?
‘‘You always think about that so it makes you train harder. That’s key it makes you wake up in the morning and you think I want to do what I love and want to represent my country so it motivates me to get up and train.’’
She is also confident, that once selected, the Black Ferns can bring home the cup from Ireland in August.
‘‘I’ve been to two world cups, I’ve lost one and won one so I know how it feels both sides of the coin. To lose that was horrible so to try to bring it back would be great."