Black Ferns head coach Wayne Smith likes what he's seeing.
In their final pool play match against Scotland in Whangārei yesterday, the New Zealand side put on what Smith deemed as their best half of rugby this year to run up a 45-0 halftime lead.
It was an impressive 40minutes of rugby from many angles.
Throughout their opening two games of the tournament, slow starts had been an issue for the New Zealanders, as had discipline and the set piece.
Against Scotland, those were all strengths and, while the second half saw the Ferns drop off a bit, there was a lot for the coaching staff to like in the 57-0 win.
"I was really proud," said Smith. "We've now played 31 of our 32 players. I think they're proving something out there — to us, probably, as much as everyone else.
"I thought that first half was brilliant. We were never going to replicate it in the second half with the changes that we were making.
"It's always difficult at halftime giving messages to retain the physicality, put body before ball, keep the ball, get low in the contact and all those sorts of things, it's always difficult after 45 points for everyone to stay focused.
"We knew there was going to be a wee drop, but that's okay."
Renee Holmes bagged a double against Scotland. Photo / Photosport
What was particularly pleasing for Smith was the execution from the outset and the fact the team took some of the lessons from recent games and lifted their physicality.
The Black Ferns conceded seven fewer penalties than they did against Wales a week ago, and had their highest tackling success rate (89 per cent), while it was their first match of the tournament with a 100 per cent success rate from their own scrum feed.
Although they were widely expected by the pundits to come away with a big win, they knew where Scotland's strengths were and nullified them well.
"We'd been watching Scotland. They could have beaten Aussie, they could have beaten Wales.
"We knew they were physical and it was going to be a battle, so we were really up for it. We've had a good week," said Smith.
It was much to the delight of the booming Northland crowd, with 16,571 turning up to cheer the team on, with a strong crowd in attendance for the matches either side of the Black Ferns' appearance.
The event was a good precursor for next weekend, with the Black Ferns all but assured of finishing the round robin stages as the top seed and playing at the same Northland Events Centre venue next weekend.
"I've played here since the 1980s with Canterbury; I don't think I've ever seen a crowd like that at Semenoff Stadium," Smith said. "It just blew us away when we walked in. It was incredible."
