Alana Bremner

BIOGRAPHY

Black Fern #223

Alana Bremner is an integral part of the all-conquering Canterbury team who won four consecutive Farah Palmer Cup championships between 2017 and 2020. Skipper for the past two seasons she replaced longtime leader Stephanie Te Ohaere-Fox who took a year off in 2020 due to childbirth. Alana was selected ahead of Black Ferns legend Kendra Cocksedge for the role.

“My strengths are linking out on the flanks with backs and forwards, lineouts, tackling and leadership. I’ve had to work hard on public speaking and reading the game with greater responsibility for Canterbury,” Bremner said.

It’s the ability to execute those skills which sees’ Alana switch seamlessly between lock and flanker and resulted in her selection for the 2021 Black Ferns tour of the UK and France.

Alana grew up in Little River and first played rugby for the Banks Peninsula club. The first team in which she was involved featured six girls and the opposition were joking amongst themselves about the number of girls in the team. At the end of the game there were a few members of the opposition in tears because that Banks Peninsula team, stacked with girls, beat them.

A Canterbury and South Island secondary schools representative in 2013, Bremner started her senior career at Sydenham but later became the first women to play 50 games for Lincoln University - a new powerhouse in Christchurch senior rugby.

“There hadn't been a team at Lincoln for years so we used to drive out to Sydenham in order to play. When Lincoln started their scholarship program we decided to make our own team. We made the semis in 2019 and 2020 and made our first final in 2021. We are the only club with two women’s teams, the Ewes and Hoggets.”

Alana’s drive and excellence was recognised by Canterbury. She made her debut in 2014 and a year later was named Canterbury player of the year. In 2017 Canterbury took a seismic shift forward when they beat defending Farah Palmer Cup champions Counties Manukau 32-29 to win the JJ Stewart Trophy (the Ranfurly Shield of women’s rugby). Counties presented Canterbury with the trophy at the airport as they didn’t bring it to the Massey ground so confident they would win.

“That game marked a turning point in our mindset. When I started with Canterbury, Auckland were beating us by more than 50 points but when we put the high performance program in place and changed the culture our belief started to grow.”

Two former Black Ferns Amanda Murphy and Mellisa Ruscoe have been a part of the Canterbury management set up. Alana singled out 2010 World Cup winning captain Ruscoe for special praise.

“She’s so humble, the younger players don’t really understand what she's done for the game. She’s always wanting to improve herself as well as the game.” In 2020 Alana was Canterbury’s leading try scorer in an unbeaten season with eight tries. She scored doubles in victories against Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay and Tasman - matching her outstanding display in the 2019 semi-final win against Counties Manukau.

Canterbury’s 27 game win streak ended in 2021 when they were beaten in the Farah Palmer Cup final by Waikato. Alana didn't feature in that match but did bring up her 50th game for the province in a 23-22 victory over Wellington in Christchurch. A last-minute try to prop Amy Rule secured a memorable win.

“There was a lot going on pre-game and sometimes that can take you away from the game itself. Wellington were amazing and released their potential against us. There were clinical moments at the end of the game where our hooker hit the same jumper at the back of the lineout four times. Those are the games you love to be a part of.”

Stephanie Te Ohaere-Fox made her 100th appearance for Canterbury in the same game.

Alana desired to be a part of the Black Ferns for the 2020 internal series against the Barbarians. Ironically younger sister Chelesa, whom she persuaded to play rugby after spending her teenage years in netball, was picked instead. Alana was captain of the Barbarians.

“That was a hard week with a lot of emotions to deal with. Some girls hadn’t made the Black Ferns who expected to be there the first time while others who’d been there before were not selected. It took a while to deal with that but the only way we could show the selectors we were just as worthy was by playing together. We had a great opportunity to play the best team in New Zealand and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

Her test debut finally happened in 2021 when she started in the Black Ferns 100th test against England. Unfortunately the result was poor but a try Alana scored, reclaiming a kick by second-five Chelsea Alley and surging 25-meters alone was a highlight of the match.

The sisters bought a house in Christchurch in 2019 and live together.

Profile by Adam Julian