Campbell Burnes
Rugby Writer
Former Manu Samoa No 10 and freelance rugby scribe Campbell Burnes pays tribute to one of our greatest players, man or woman.
There is little room for much sentiment in rugby.
Fairy tales often do not come true. But then, just occasionally, the stars align, and a deserving player goes out the way he or she would dream of doing so.
Such was the case with Kendra Cocksedge when she hung up her provincial boots in September. As it happened, this great halfback, the 2015 World Rugby player of the year, the 2018 NZR player of the year, a two-time Rugby World Cup winner and five-time Farah Palmer Cup champion, bowed out on top with a last FPC crown in her 100th outing for her province, a team she debuted for as far back as 2007.
The skilled Cocksedge has racked up in excess of 1000 points for Canterbury, the most in FPC history by miles, while she is second only to Selica Winiata for tries scored for her union.
Rugby Park in Christchurch was decked out as Te Ohaere-Fox Cocksedge Park for the day in honour of Cocksedge and her long-time teammate Steph Te Ohaere-Fox, who was also calling it a day.
Cocksedge is 34 now and the undisputed top halfback in the country, but she has known adversity. In 2008, she missed a conversion from close range at Eden Park which would have given Canterbury its first provincial title, while it was not until 2014 that she firmly established herself as the Black Ferns No 9.
Through it all, her nous, rugby intelligence and wide skillset has been on show in spades for all her teams, be it Canterbury University, Canterbury, Matatu or the Black Ferns.
She looked to be struggling on the infamous 2021 tour of England and France and many wondered if her best days were behind her. She had to reset mentally after the Rugby World Cup was postponed 12 months. But reset she did, embracing fulltime professionalism and recapturing her best form. It looked like she was thriving under the new Black Ferns coaching regime and game plan.
So, to the Farah Palmer Cup final on September 10. Cocksedge had a blinder, as did her team, and she was accorded the rare honour of sitting down at 60-odd minutes with the game won as she soaked up the accolades and a standing ovation. Richie McCaw’s last home Test match at Eden Park in 2015 was one of the few other similar occasions I can recall.
Cocksedge left the fans wanting more. She darted away for an intercept try, kicked accurately off the tee and controlled the tempo, as she has done for most of her career. It was a fitting sendoff for a champion.
By the time you read this, Cocksedge may be a three-time Rugby World Cup holder. It would be nothing less than she deserves as she heads onto other challenges in life. She will retire as the finest Black Ferns halfback of all time and probably one of the 2-3 best players ever in the black jersey. Maybe they should permanently rename the Canterbury Rugby headquarters Kendra Cocksedge Park.
