Rochelle Martin: 'Test rugby is pressure, but it filled my cup'

Rochelle Martin is the 180th inductee into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Between 1994 and 2006, the uncompromising flanker played 32 Tests for the Black Ferns, winning 31 times and scoring 14 tries.

A member of the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Women’s Rugby World Cup-winning teams, she was never better than in the 2006 semi-final against France in Edmonton. The Black Ferns won 40-10, as Martin scoring two tries against the reigning Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam champions who had won 18 consecutive Tests.

“I think that was the closest I got to playing a perfect game. The French were a phenomenal team; big, strong, unpredictable, but we were so clinical, unlike the final where England pummeled us for the first 20 minutes, and all we could do was defend to survive,” Martin told RugbyPass.

“To receive an honour like the Hall of Fame for doing something that filled my cup is unbelievable. I’m still grappling with it. It has been overwhelming. A few celebrations have left me dusty.

“My husband asked me the other day if we are going on a trip overseas. I said yes, we’re going to Christchurch. I live in Auckland and have never been to the new stadium. Receiving my cap before the French match is special because that is one game where I felt I did something significant.”

Before the Black Ferns’ 28-14 win against France in Lyon to open their WXV Global Series 2026 campaign on September 12, Martin was invited into the Black Ferns jersey presentation via Zoom.

“That was a huge honour. I could really feel the vibe and fun in the room,” Martin said.

“I really like what Whitney Hansen and her management staff are doing with this team. They really focus on connection and wellbeing. They have each other’s backs; people are not working in isolation.

“The Black Ferns are playing as well as I have ever seen them. Along with the positive intent to shift the ball to space with speed and skill, there is real growth in the set pieces. The lineout execution against France was superb. I am very encouraged by what I see.”

Martin was informed of her World Rugby Hall of Fame nomination while coaching a training session for the Rangitoto College girls First XV. She ignored a text from an unfamiliar number. When John Eales, Chair of the World Rugby Hall of Fame panel and inductee, requested a call back, Martin was bemused.

“The first thing I did was check the spelling of the name. There’s only one John Eales, right? After finishing our drill, I called the number. Sure enough, it was John Eales. I was blown away. I had to keep it a secret for two months.

I don’t know how I did that. When the Rangitoto girls found out, they went nuts.”

Martin was born and raised in Napier’s Taradale, where her first rugby coaching was from her brother Aaron, a stalwart of the club. He would hoist “up and unders” at the park and “king hit” his sister for practice.

She relocated to Wellington at 18 to play softball in the Hutt Valley, boarding with 1982 White Sox World Series-winning captain Naomi Shaw. Curious, she joined teammates at a rugby practice and soon got hooked. She debuted for Wellington in 1993. In 1994, she was picked for New Zealand’s first official Test win against Australia, 37-0, in Canberra.

In 1994/95 she joined fellow World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee Anna Richards in England at Richmond, helping the side go undefeated in 14 games and win the Premiership and National Cup final. It was an invaluable learning experience.

“It was like an apprenticeship. Northern Hemisphere rugby revolved around 12 players, so as a loose forward it allowed me to develop. I had a great coach who expanded my understanding of the game,” Martin recalled.

In 1995 she was named New Zealand women’s player of the year. She scored two tries in the 64-0 thrashing of Australia in Auckland and played for Wellington and Petone.

New Zealand’s women’s rugby team’s reputation grew exponentially in 1998 when they emphatically won their first World Cup in Amsterdam. In five games, New Zealand outscored opponents 344-32. Martin recalls not being able to move after the 44-11 demolition of England in the semi-finals, in which Annaleah Rush scored 24 points. In the 44-12 final triumph against the USA, Vanessa Coutts scored a yet-to-be-beaten five tries in the decider.

Back home in New Zealand, there was a public outcry for the team to receive recognition through a name like other leading New Zealand sports teams. Coach Darryl Suasua and the players, however, had no part in a gimmick; they wanted to create their own identity instead.

“When we were at the World Cup in Amsterdam, there was a competition on the primetime Holmes show to name the team,” Suasua recalled.

“We wanted to come up with something to present to the Union so we had ownership of the name and culture we were trying to create. The idea of ‘Black Ferns’ was to combine the Silver Ferns of netball with the All Blacks. The mamaku is also the strongest female part of the fern, so everything is tied together nicely.”

There were few stronger Black Ferns than Martin. In 2000, she ruptured her ACL in a club game and missed eight months of rugby, needing some alternative healing to recover.

“I went and saw an elderly gentleman, about 70, a former SAS Navy SEAL, who always dressed in white and had distinct grey hair. He had set up a small clinic with rings, Pilates, and the kind of setting common for wellbeing now,” Martin recalled.

“He guided me through exercises he could do but I could not, so I quickly listened to everything he told me. He created a hyperbaric chamber which he attached to my leg, like they did when Zinzan Brooke damaged his ankle. The time it took me to get back to full running was phenomenal.

“I saw this great man for about eight weeks. His fee per session was $180, which I could not afford, so I offered to pay in instalments. He said not to worry, but I said I could not pay a lump sum at the end. It turned out he was running a suicide survivors farm, so he asked me to do seasonal hay baling for one of his clients setting up her own clinic as payment. Unbelievable.”

Zinzan Brooke, one of rugby’s ultimate winners, joined Martin in this Hall of Fame class. He won 87 of 100 All Blacks games, 126 out of 140 with Auckland and 19 of 22 with the Blues. He scored 161 tries in 311 first-class games, still a New Zealand record for a forward.

”He probably does not know who I am, but what an inspiration,” Martin laughed.

In 2002 in Barcelona, the Black Ferns successfully defended the Women’s Rugby World Cup without conceding a try. It wasn’t an entirely happy tournament for Martin, missing the semi-final against France after being suspended for striking against Australia.

In 2003 she again ruptured her ACL and considered retirement but was lured back by a change of management with Jed Rowlands and Kiwi Searancke at the helm.

“There was a real shift in approach which I found appealing. Instead of a dominant captain, we had a senior leadership group of six to eight players contributing to decision-making. This helped us manage things better across the field. Jed and Kiwi made us think strategically because they gave us a license to express ourselves, which was very empowering,” Martin said.

In 2005, Martin captained the Black Ferns to a 33-8 win against England in Auckland. The 2006 Women’s Rugby World Cup was her swansong. She captained the Black Ferns in a 50-0 win against Samoa and started every game, including the 25-17 win against England in the final. Martin played eight internationals and won seven.

A year later, she scored the same number on a yo-yo running test as All Blacks captain Richie McCaw [148 Tests, 131 wins].
Dame Farah Palmer captained the Black Ferns in all three Women’s Rugby World Cup triumphs between 1998 and 2006 [29 wins in 30 Tests] and paid tribute to the mother of four sons and a daughter.

“Rochelle was professional before everyone else, supremely fit, driven, and an all-round athlete: good in the lineouts, strong over the ball, and huge on the carry. She was easy to get along with because she was authentic: modest, but she could have a laugh. Intense on the paddock but relaxed off it, she gave everything she had to the black jersey and left it in a better place.”

As noteworthy as Martin’s rugby career was, it is nothing compared with fighting fires.

Martin joined the fire service in 2001 and was the fire sportsperson of the year in 2003 and 2005. In 2018 she was awarded an Order of Merit for her services to firefighting. She is currently District Manager and Commander at the Waitemata Fire District and believes rugby has played a role in her ascent within the fire service.

“My rugby career and the lessons learned in the Black Ferns around discipline, fitness, and teamwork served me well for the success I had in life. Playing Test rugby is pressure, but it filled my cup and built friendships and camaraderie. Fighting fires is a matter of life and death.”