Kendra Margaret Cocksedge (born 1 July 1988) is a retired New Zealand

Rugby Union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player and

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. She played for the New Zealand Women's national rugby union side, 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 tour ...

and for the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

provincial side. She was a member of the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Rugby World Cup winning squads. In 2018 she won the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year Award at the annual

New Zealand Rugby New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it b ...

awards.

Early life

Cocksedge was originally from

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

, she played rugby from a young age and made the Taranaki and Hurricanes Secondary School teams. She also represented the

Central Hinds The Central Hinds are the women's representative cricket team of Central Districts Cricket Association, based in central New Zealand. The Major Association team is the only female team to draw players from both the main islands of New Zealand. T ...

at cricket, debuting as a 15-year-old.

Cricket career

Cocksedge wore cap #100 for the Central Districts Hinds, playing 38 List A one-day matches and five Twenty20s. She debuted in the 2004–5 season and played through to the 2007–8 season State League final (after she has already become a Black Fern). When her rugby and cricket commitments required her to choose a single sport, she retired from cricket.

Rugby career

In 2007, at the age of 19, she made her debut for Canterbury after moving there to study at Lincoln University. She later made her international debut for the Black Ferns on 16 October that year against the Wallaroos at

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

. In addition to

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, Cocksedge has also represented New Zealand in the sport of

Rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

and was a member of the winning team of the Women's Sevens World Series in 2013.

2014–2017

In 2014 Cocksedge started in all nine matches for the Canterbury Women's Provincial Team, performing strongly and scoring 101 points. Following this Cocksedge made her Test debut for New Zealand and was named in the squad to the

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du ...

. In 2015, she was top point scorer with 26 points at the

2015 Women's Rugby Super Series The inaugural 2015 Women's Rugby Super Series was an international women's rugby union competition contested by World Cup holders England, runners-up Canada, New Zealand and the United States. The Super Series succeeded the Nations Cup, another ...

. She was named New Zealand's Women's Player of the Year at the end of 2015 and went on to be named in 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 Du ...

squad that won the tournament.

2018–2021

Cocksedge became the first woman to be receive the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Award for Player of the Year at the New Zealand Rugby awards in 2018. In 2019 she was part of the winning team of the Women's Super Rugby Series. In the

2021 New Year Honours The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, Cocksedge was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to rugby. Cocksedge was one of five players who signed with the Matatū rugby team for the inaugural season of the

Super Rugby Aupiki Super Rugby Aupiki is a professional women's rugby union club competition in New Zealand. Its inaugural season was held in March 2022. It is a stepping stone between the Farah Palmer Cup and the Black Ferns. Aupiki translates as ‘''the asce ...

2022

Cocksedge was selected for the Black Ferns squad for the

2022 Pacific Four Series The 2022 Pacific Four Series was the second edition of the Pacific Four Series. The competition was hosted by New Zealand from 6 to 18 June. Matches were played at two of the venues which hosted the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup – The Trusts Ar ...

. She was recalled into the team for the August test series against the Wallaroos for the

Laurie O'Reilly Cup The Laurie O'Reilly Cup is the trophy competed for by the women's rugby union teams of Australia and New Zealand. The two nations met annually between 1994 and 1998, with New Zealand winning all games, often by significant margins, as a result of ...

. Cocksedge appeared in her fourth

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

when she made the Black Ferns 32-player squad for the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

. She helped the Black Ferns claim their sixth

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

title. Cocksedge later retired from rugby after the World Cup.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cocksedge, Kendra 1988 births Living people New Zealand women's international rugby union players New Zealand female rugby union players Female rugby sevens players New Zealand women cricketers Central Districts Hinds cricketers Rugby union scrum-halves Canterbury rugby union players Cricketers from New Plymouth Rugby union players from New Plymouth Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit World Rugby Players of the Year 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen