Melissa Ruscoe, Christchurch, MNZM
For services to women’s rugby. Ms Ruscoe is the captain of the Black Ferns, which she led to victory in the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup. She has also captained the Football Ferns, New Zealand’s national women’s soccer team, making 23 international appearances between 1994 and 2000. She switched to rugby in 2003, joining the Canterbury Women’s National Provincial Championship team, twice captaining the team to the national finals. She was the Captain of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team at the World Cup Qualifier in Samoa in 2009. She was selected as a loose forward for the Black Ferns in 2004 and was a member of the teams that won the Churchill Cup in 2004 and the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2006. Ms Ruscoe was named the New Zealand Women's Rugby Player of the Year in 2005.