The Bremners: The sisters competing for the same Black Ferns shirt

Wayne Smith tells a story of the time when he took over as Black Ferns coach. With less than a year until New Zealand’s home World Cup in 2022 and the Black Ferns seemingly in disarray, Smith was having to quickly get a handle on his personnel.

In the course of doing his due diligence, Smith had been told that incumbent lock Chelsea Bremner was “soft”. It was a description the master coach wasn’t having a bar of; “anyone who’d paid their way through university by working as a rousey isn’t bloody soft” he’d say afterwards. As is often the case, “The Professor” was proved right.

Firstly, for those not so versed in rural life, a rousey is a wool-handler, someone who manages and gathers the wool shorn from sheep in a shearing shed.

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

Secondly, perhaps the fact someone thought that of a Bremner is more of a measure of the understated nature of both Chelsea and her younger sister Alana.

There’s nothing flashy about the Bremners. They’re workers, doers, a double act made of tough stuff.

It’s that unfussy nature that has seen the older Bremner work her way back into the Black Ferns fold this year and why younger sibling Alana (now using her married name Borland) continue to shine as a key figure in the team’s leadership group as they prepare to defend their Rugby World Cup title in England.

The sisters, 18 months apart in age, both possess a work ethic honed in rural Canterbury.

“Dad’s a shearer, so growing up that was what we did for our summer job,” says Bremner. “So starting from about 12, I’d go out in the school holidays if Dad needed another hand because he was the head of the gang.

“We didn’t always love it but there wasn’t really a choice, so we ended up doing long days working our way through uni, summers and high school.”

If you think the rugby field is a robust environment, try a shearing shed in New Zealand’s South Island.

“People that work in sheds are bloody tough, doing massive, massive days, the travel required, just grit that you see,” Bremner continues: “You meet some really awesome characters in the shed, everyone would make you feel at home and yeah, you had to keep up with the play, otherwise you would hear it from the shearers.”

The sisters grew up in a small town called Little River, just under an hour from Christchurch, where they attended a school with only 90 students.

Like most rural upbringings, sport and being active were a part of all they did, but their path to the top level of rugby is where they diverged slightly. While Borland played from a young age, Bremner didn’t begin until she was 21, having to be coerced into filling in for her sister’s club team.

The start of a journey which eventually took them from Lincoln University to Canterbury and the Black Ferns. After a covid delay, the pair made their Test debuts six months apart and were in the heart of the New Zealand pack when they won the World Cup at home in 2022, Bremner at lock and Borland in the back-row.

They’ve both been confirmed in the squad to travel to England next month. Borland says to be alongside her sister for so many momentous occasions has made everything that has come their way all the more special.

“I think sometimes we underestimate how cool this situation is; to be in it at the same time, especially in the time of the game at the moment, going from amateur to professional.

“We’ve got to play in the first Barbarians team, New Zealand development and ticked off some milestones and we’re really proud for our family to get to do this for them, with all that driving around when we were younger.”

Since the win at Eden Park however, Bremner’s place in the squad had become a little less certain owing in part to Borland’s shift into the second row.

Playing just two Tests last year and initially left out of May’s Pacific Four Series squad, Bremner has fought her way back into the team, producing one of her finest performances in the recent win over Australia in Wellington.

Despite having to fight for her name on the team sheet, Bremner’s become used to playing in the same position as her sister.

“You always want to see your friends, especially your sister succeed. The coaches are naming the best team that they see fit and I’ve had to keep trying to put my best foot forward in training when I get my opportunity.

“We do get asked that quite a bit, what’s it like fighting for a position, but I don’t really see it as that. Obviously you’re always fighting for the jersey, but it’s not about necessarily the person that’s in it because we are always really supportive of each other.”

Borland is proud of the way her sister has worked her way back into the squad.

 

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“I know how good a player she is because I’ve played with her for her whole rugby career. So seeing, the work she’s put in, earning a start against Australia is so cool.”

On competing for the same jersey, Borland says: “We just want to be better players, constant improvement is what we strive for and whatever role or position that is, you just want to do your role and serve the team as well as you can when you do get that opportunity.”

Off the field, the pair, who shared a bedroom right until they left for university, are each other’s right-hand woman, so much so that Bremner recently officiated Borland’s wedding – a wedding that was kept as a surprise from guests who thought they were attending an engagement party.

Bremner had long been in on the secret and as a self-confessed crier, was relieved to have been given a heads up of the vows.

The wedding and the World Cup has made for a uniquely special time for the Bremner family. Although younger brother Michael won’t be able to make the trip, their parents Phil and Sharon will travel to England for the tournament after which the sisters will go their separate ways.

Borland will join Trailfinders Women in a landmark move to the PWR while Bremner will stay in New Zealand.

“I’ve been in Christchurch for my whole life, high school at Lincoln, uni at Lincoln and my high performance hub is at Lincoln, so John and I just wanted to do something a little bit different, experience rugby overseas, live the London life and travel before we potentially have a family.” Borland says.

London is calling the Bremner sisters in more ways than one, with eyes firmly on Twickenham and the hope of playing in another World Cup final.

“We have a lot of trust among the squad, we’ve put in some massive shifts and there’s been huge improvements and growth in every player’s skills and knowledge and on and off the field,” said Bremner.

Borland agrees: “2022 felt like it flashed by, like it was almost catching up and doing what we could to win it, but with the majority of the group now being fully professional for the last three or four years, you’ve really seen the growth within the group, we’ve had a lot more time together, continuity, our rugby IQs (have) grown and feel a lot more prepared going into this World Cup.”

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The pair credit their parents for their strong moral compass, willingness to serve and that work ethic that has stood them in good stead on and off the field.

The sisters describe each other as “reliable”, and as they head into another World Cup campaign you’d imagine their Black Ferns team-mates would say exactly the same about this level headed sister act.