Cup win no cake-walk

Black Ferms skipper Farah Palmer was spot on when she described her team's 25-17 win over England in the women's rugby World Cup final at Edmonton as "hard yakka".
Hard would have to be the operative word.
In fact ferocious would probably be a more apt description for the physical endeavour imparted on a truly memorable game by both sides.
England, as England rugby teams of any sex are prone to do, relied almost exclusively on their forwards to batter the Black Ferns into submission.
Their pack was big and mean, but this was to be a match which proved that size does not necessarily count.
Sure, the Black Ferns spent most of the first half on the back foot simply because they were out-muscled up front, and consequently denied much in the way of quality possession.
But you always had the feeling that come the second half the obvious advantage the Black Ferns had in fitness and in the pace of their outside backs would take its toll..
And so it proved with many of the bulkier English girls down to a walk going into the last 20 minutes and the Black Ferns reaping the benefits of their exhaustion.
Even then though it wasn't until a memorable try in injury time that victory was guaranteed.
For those ? and I include myself amongst them ? who only had scant knowledge of the quality of top level women's rugby before yesterday's final, the game was an absolute eye-opener.
I mean the All Blacks themselves must have felt somewhat embarrassed at just how efficient the Black Ferns were at winning their own lineout ball.
The communication between thrower and catcher was outstanding and the protection of the ball once it was attained equally impressive.
Superb too was the unity shown in the rucks and mauls where retention of possession was inevitably guaranteed by the closeness of the support play, and even Sean Fitztpatrick would have been proud at the swiftness and velocity at which any "fringers" were removed. Nothing lady-like there at all!
And how about the ability of the Black Ferns backs to keep the ball alive even with opposing defenders literally breathing down their necks.
Wasn't it refreshing after watching so many Super 14 and Air NZ Cup games where teams consistently struggle to get the ball to the second-five, let along the wingers.
But for me the most notable feature of the Edmonton final was the spot tackling with the Black Ferns again leading the way. Very seldom were first tackles missed and some of the hits were so huge you could almost feel them through your TV set!
The pity about all this, of course, is that apart from the World Cup, the opportunities for the Black Ferns to show their wares are few and far between.
Hopefully though their latest effort will see the NZRFU working hard to ensure that is no longer the case, and perhaps the time will come when we see them regularly playing the curtain-raisers to AB's games.
Mind you, that might not be a good idea for their male counterparts as nobody likes to be continually upstaged, do they?