Braxton Sorensen-McGee is just eighteen years old, a winger, full back, playmaker, finisher, a black fern in bloom, a story only just beginning to unfold and yet already one for the ages.

Last Sunday in Brighton the first of her three tries against Ireland left the crowd gasping. Scorching down the right wing she shimmied, side stepped and swerved with such beauty and power that Sorensen and McGee went in different directions leaving the Irish defenders holding nothing but the hyphen.

With five family members having played league for the Kiwis including stars of the game Dane and Kurt Sorensen the oval ball game was well and truly in her blood.

Her rugby life began as a two year old watching her brother playing rugby league. She followed his footsteps in borrowed boots too young to know she was already chasing destiny.

Despite being voted New Zealand Rugby League U16 Player of the Year the union code was calling her. At Auckland Girls’ Grammar she took the field, and with the Auckland Storm she claimed her place among the brightest, becoming Farah Palmer Cup Rookie of the Year in 2023. Her rise continued into the sevens format as Co-captain of New Zealand’s U18s,

Then came 2025. In Super Rugby Aupiki, with the Blues in full flight she scored six tries in eight games, and in the final, she stole the ball, ran seventy metres, and sealed the championship with the lightning in her boots.

On her Black Ferns debut earlier this year she scored a brace of tries against Australia crossing the white line twice and looking like she had played international rugby all her life.

Her second try was a 40 metre sprint, a long range effort that now appears to be part of her DNA and arguably worthy of registering intellectual property rights.

Rugby World Cup 2025 has brought her magical talents to a global audience with Six tries in a week, those remarkable back to back hat tricks against Japan and Ireland were a joy to behold.

Sorenson-McGee finished the pool stage as the tournament’s leading point scorer with 38 points, six tries – those two hat-tricks against Japan and Ireland – and four conversions.

Her attacking threat has made her joint-top line-breaker with 10 and together with the 228 metres gained, it puts her amongst the most dangerous ball carriers in the tournament.

Back home, her dog Thunder must be one of the fittest canines on the planet. I would imagine the pace of ‘walkies’ must be quite challenging for him. They say owners take after their dogs so you may not be surprised to discover that her fur baby is a Rottweiler.

Black Fern number 262 is straining at the leash to face South Africa in the first World Cup quarter final in Exeter this weekend and make no bones about it, we are in the presence of a rugby superstar.