Chelsea Bremner

BIOGRAPHY

Black Fern #218

Chelsea Bremner is an exceptionally fit loose forward, renowned for her relentless defense and aerial prowess at kickoffs and lineouts. She has been an integral part of Canterbury’s surge to four consecutive Farah Palmer Cup Premiership titles, never losing in 35 appearances in the red and black jersey.

In 2020 she was selected for the Black Ferns internal series against the New Zealand Barbarians. Her older sister Alana was captain of the opposition:

“We were in the Possibles together and won the game which was awesome. In Auckland they named the Black Ferns squad for the Barbarians games and Alana wasn’t named so it was kind of bittersweet. When she was named captain of the Barbarians I was delighted but when we played each other we didn’t tackle each other.

“They were very tight games. I had to do my role and trust the process, having not played with a lot of the girls before, which was a new experience.”

Bremner had no experience of rugby before her 21st birthday. Growing up in Little River she took the opposite route of Alana and played netball. An accomplished goal shoot, she made the Otago Under 19’s while at University in Dunedin and was a trailst for New Zealand Under 21’s.

A shift to Lincoln University brought her back in touch with Alana, who persuaded her sister to join the reformed women’s team.

“I quit netball to make the Canterbury team in my first year. That’s the type of person I am, give it my all or give it nothing. Netball fitness was very different to rugby fitness, but the culture in rugby was amazing and they got me up to speed real quick.”

In 2016 Bremner duly debuted for Canterbury in her maiden season and was quickly encouraged to attend select Black Ferns trainings. With Alana she has kicked onto became the first female to play 50 games for the Lincoln club. In 2021 Lincoln achieved their best ever result when they were runners up in the senior competition and were the only club to field two teams, named the Ewes and Hoggets.

“We literally owe everything to Shawn Fibbes and his daughter Jess. They got us up and running with sponsors, facilities, paperwork, everything you need. We had a change in coaches last year, Lindsay Smith and Brett Lewis came over from a men’s division one team and they’re awesome too.”

Canterbury have been awesome themselves, winning every Farah Palmer Cup since 2017. Additionally they haven’t stumbled at home since 2016 and have held the JJ Stewart Trophy (the Ranfurly Shield of women’s rugby) for 14 consecutive defenses, since beating Counties Manauku 32-29 in 2017. The Heat boasted the Black Ferns starting front row and were so confident they’d win they didn’t bring the trophy to the ground. By 2019 Bremner was named the Fiao'o Fa'amausili medal winner as Farah Palmer Cup player of the year. She played all three games for the New Zealand Development XV on their successful tour of Fiji where they outscored opponents 234-0.

“We're not the owners of the JJ. We fight for it every game, treating each opponent with respect regardless of their form or reputation.

“My favourite game for Canterbury is the 2020 final where we beat Waikato 8-7. That’s a moment I’ll never forget, the sense of relief after Cindy (Nelles) scored. After the game every girl in the team said though we were down, and not close to the try line, no one was worried we’d lose. That’s not a result that comes from one season of hard work, but years of hard work.”

Former Black Fern Amanda Murphy is head of high performance. “She’s the perfect mix of motivation and second Mum. She has a great individual relationship with the players, you're a person before you're a player and that’s really important. Everybody wants to be here.”

She identified fellow Black Fern Charmaine McMenamin as her toughest rival and suggested Canterbury hooker Rebecca Todd, who also played 31 games for Otago, is very underrated. Todd has been involved in all four of Canterbury’s Farah Palmer Cup successes.

Chelsea teaches an intermediate class at Hornby High School and famously ate 11 Weetbix in a row during lockdown, with some witnesses claiming milk was absent.

Profile by Adam Julian