AUCKLAND, New Zealand — For perhaps the first time in Black Ferns history, the side will be entering the 2021 Rugby World Cup final as underdogs as they look to down tournament favourites England and end the side’s current 30-game win streak.
With close to 40,000 fans expected to pack into Eden Park on Saturday night, the Black Ferns are preparing to take on the might of the Red Roses forward pack that has dismantled every opposition they’ve come up against and put the Black Ferns to the sword a year ago.
Humbled by the Red Roses in successive record defeats on their end of year tour last November – where they were also punished by France twice – their forward pack came under the microscope and has remained there throughout the tournament.
Bringing in former All Blacks World Cup winning coach Wayne Smith in the lead-up to the tournament, the Black Ferns have seen a return to their exciting and threatening best, while he’s also introduced the squad to a new training format – the dojo gym.
“They’ve [dojo sessions] been awesome and the fact of just homing in on that skill set because, like contact, it’s rugby, it’s the main part of the sport,” Black Ferns prop Amy Rule said. “So really being able to home in on that technique, getting reps in landing on a nice mat instead of the hard ground’s been nice.
Forwards + gym + dojo = mahi 💪#BlackFerns pic.twitter.com/9Hl8O9O80X
— Black Ferns (@BlackFerns) April 22, 2022
“It’s just been awesome; I think the start of the year it was a combination of conditioning as well as contact and that really helped. Being able to bounce back and go again and go again, ’cause I think heading to games like this, that’s what we’re gonna need. Just that get up and go again attitude. So it’s been awesome and I’ve loved it. A few bumps and bruises but it’s all part of it.”
Hitting and flipping each other and rolling around on the mat, Black Ferns lock Maia Roos believes it’s one of their best weapons.
“Dojo that’s where our shoulders are made,” Roos said. “We worked really hard on that, it’s been a large part of our preparation this year, we think it’s one of our skills, so if we’re doing it no one else can get through us.”.
Tested by France’s impressive forward unit, especially at set-piece, Roos is excited by what she saw from her forwards last week, but knows they face a different beast come Saturday.
“England and France play very different games, but I think it’s still going to be physical up front. It’s going to be a tough game and I can’t wait,” the prop said.
“We can’t compare game to game cause it’s always a different story, it’s always a different opportunity, but it’s exciting ’cause this tournament we have been the focus point because it starts at set-piece.
“It’s [our job] to get quality balls for our backs and as a forward or as a front row that’s my first job, I’ve got to nail that, so it is exciting when we get things working and we are connecting as a forward pack and getting the results. I think it’s really exciting.
“But heading into the next game it’s another challenge. It’s a different team compared to last year as well, so it’s really exciting that it’s basically a fresh start. It’s just this is our game now and we’ve got to process how we’re going to attack it and go from there.”
While their forward pack has laid the platform, their backline has been the beneficiaries, running in 38 tries – Portia Woodman dotting down seven of her own – many of them from unstructured play. It’s in complete contrast to England, who’ve also score 38 tries, with their forward pack enjoying the spoils – especially through their rolling maul.
With completely opposing game styles, the Black Ferns have revelled in the ability to play the New Zealand brand of rugby that they played as kids; high-tempo, ball-in-hand, off-loading rugby that has produced some of the most exciting tries of the tournament.
“I think it just makes it much more special [playing the New Zealand brand of rugby],” Black Ferns centre Theresa Fitzpatrick said. “The fact that management are allowing us to fully express ourselves and I guess that does mean that we’re playing how we did when we were kids; enjoying ourselves, throwing the ball around, keeping the ball alive, and making the game exciting.
“I think we do play our best rugby when we’re enjoying ourselves and when we’re having fun, and so it’s really awesome that we’re still able to do that now and in the black jersey, and I think that it’s been really cool and really special that we can just play some grassroots style of rugby.”
As the Black Ferns prepare for their final battle of the tournament, there won’t be any shying away from their expansive game plan or looking to play conservatively, instead they’ll look to keep sending the ball wide and look for the open spaces.
“Yeah, 100 percent [we’ll stick to what works],” Fitzpatrick said. “I think that’s why we’ve been really implementing it throughout this campaign, so when we get to this last game, even though it is a final, we’re still playing the same style, we’re still looking for those offloads, looking for where the space is just playing what’s in front of us.
“We still want that really exciting brand, we still want to use the ball and use our skill set from our forwards and our backs.”