NZR lock down services of Braxton Sorensen-McGee with bespoke contract

She lit up the Rugby World Cup and now New Zealand Rugby has moved to lock in the services of Braxton Sorensen-McGee with a unique contract that will allow the teenage sensation a chance to wear both Black Ferns jerseys over the next two years.

Sorensen-McGee has signed with the Black Ferns Sevens until the end of 2027 but the new deal is a hybrid contract, allowing her to be available for 15s duties. That includes returning to play for the Blues in Super Rugby Aupiki from round two and being available for the Black Ferns Test match against South Africa and the WXV Global series campaign.

The Black Ferns have a Test match locked in against England in September, with two more games in the northern hemisphere to be announced before France travel to New Zealand for three tests in October.

It’s a significant extension of the arrangement she had last year, owing to her rising stature. In 2025, her first year out of high school, she was also on a sevens contract and split her time between sevens training and the Blues. That breakout Super Rugby season led to a Black Ferns call-up and the Rugby World Cup, where she was the tournament’s leading try scorer, and delayed a full-time move to sevens, eventually making her debut on the HSBC SVNS series in December.

This new deal recognises the importance of the 19-year-old to both Black Ferns teams, putting a more formalised arrangement in place while also reflecting what the player herself wants most – flexibility.

“I feel like me and mum were just going based off what I want to do and what I want to achieve. So what that looked like was staying in sevens for a bit to hopefully get that game time and connections with the girls and then obviously I love 15s so tying in whenever I can, going back to the Blues and then hopefully after that, get close with the Black Ferns coaches and see what that looks like for me,” said Sorensen-McGee.

She credits the two Nicole’s’ in her life for nutting out an arrangement with NZR that gives her the best of both worlds. There’s her mum Nicole who worked with her manager Nicole Antonelli, to ensure Sorensen-McGee could concentrate on what she does best.

“My mum’s pretty amazing and she knows me better than anyone, so she knew what I would have wanted and went back and forth with Nic (Antonelli). I listened to her so I could just play footy.” As a new experience for both herself and her mum, Sorensen-McGee says that’s where the other Nicole, has been invaluable.

“To have another set of eyes and knowledge looking out for me, I’m really privileged and honoured to have her, and I trust her judgement.”

New Zealand Rugby knows it has a precious talent on its hands. Women’s High Performance Manager Hannah Porter is thrilled they could show the flexibility to come up with a bespoke deal for the electric full back.

“She’s such an incredible talent and showing a level of maturity to come into the Black Ferns and add value straight away into those environments,” Porter says.”

Really special athletes get to do that and find their seat pretty quickly so certainly we wanted to show her that she is really valuable to New Zealand Rugby through this contracting and for her to have the ability to start talking about where she plays over the next couple of years was really important.”

Sorensen-McGee is adjusting to life between her two homes. She regularly commutes from the sevens training base at Mount Maunganui, where she lives with Black Fern Alena Saili and former international Sophie Fisher, to her home town Auckland about two and a half hours north. While she agrees it has been a whirlwind 18-months, Sorensen-McGee feels like she’s handled it well and is starting to find the attention easier to deal with too.

“I do feel like everything has gone really fast since starting at the Blues last year, and I haven’t really stopped, but I’m pretty used to it. Growing up and through high school I was always playing both rugby (union) and league, so sometimes I’d have three trainings a day.”

In what will be music to the ears of rugby fans and those in the halls of power as the game faces increasing challenges to hold on to the best and brightest talent, Sorensen-McGee is already thinking beyond this contract which finishes before the next two major events.

“Obviously the Olympics in 2028 is a big goal and then the next World Cup is the following year, and I definitely want to go to another World Cup,” she says.”

Hannah Porter says they’re always conscious of a players age when negotiating the length of a contract but Sorensen-McGee is a major part of their future plans.

“There’s a balance right, especially with our younger athletes, how long you lock them in for and how much flexibility you allow them so certainly we would love Brax to be with us for all of the pinnacle events over the next four years I hope.”

As the reigning World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year, Black Ferns player of the year and New Zealand Rugby age-grade player of the year it’s astonishing to think where Sorensen-McGee can take her game in both sevens and fifteens. At 19 years old, she has the rugby world at her feet.

“To be able to put that jersey on has always been a dream of mine so to be able to do it more than once and for both Black Ferns teams is an honour. I’m grateful to the people that paved the way for all of us.”

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With the paperwork sorted it’s now back to growing her sevens game and building on last year’s breakout 15s campaign, hopefully continuing to cut defences to shreds with speed and agility. Despite all that’s been thrown her, Sorensen-McGee has a wise head on young shoulders.

“Mum always taught me to stay humble, stay grounded, to not let all of it get to me or get too caught up in my head,” she says. “I want to continue to try and just focus on my game, focus on why I’m playing, who I’m playing for and those around me, so then I can hopefully put on a good performance for everyone.”