That included a one-off test at Twickenham against England, prior to the WXV1 tournament in Canada, which gave the side an opportunity to experience what awaits them this August in the sport’s biggest tournament.
While there was plenty to take away from that tour, the Black Ferns won just one of four tests – with two losses to England and one to Ireland; their lone win coming against France.
“We wanted to play the best, who was the best in the world at that time, and we had some pretty tough experiences,” Bunting said of the trip to the Northern Hemisphere.
“Through tough experiences, you usually get pretty quick growth and shift. We’ve certainly seen that with some of the off-season training, a real focus around some certain areas and now it’s time to go and see the growth throughout the back of it.”
Reflecting on his time at the helm so far, Bunting admitted he expected there would be some tough times as the side deals with professionalism.
The side is still in the early stages, with 30 fulltime women’s contracts announced in 2022, which increased to 35 in 2023 and 40 in 2024.
Bunting believed it took a good two to three years of fulltime, consistent training around strength to reach the level required in the professional game.
It was paramount to address the safety side of the sport, particularly in areas of high contact like the front row where neck injuries have occurred.
“If you’re a new player and you’re taking someone out of the classroom who’s teaching, and then you throw them in a scrum against the teams that have been training fulltime, that strength and power, it’s dangerous,” he said.
“We’ve had quite a few of our front rows, quite a lot more than what we probably could have had – I’ve really pushed to have more ladies training fulltime over the last two years and we’ve had to throw them out into scrummaging when it has been a bit safer and when it wasn’t safe in our first year, and we’ve learned quite a bit.
“Player safety is the most important bit and when I first came in, we were allowed about 32 contracted players, so 32 professional players across New Zealand. If you get one or two injuries, then you’re grabbing someone out of work who is just playing in the weekends and training twice a week.
“If you look at the men’s game, there’s probably about 250 fully professional players. We’ve had a few more now and we’ve got a bit more depth, but there’s still plenty more to grow in women’s rugby.”
He added he felt things were progressing in that area at the right pace in the women’s game.
The growth in the collision and set-piece areas has been clear during the Super Rugby Aupiki competition this season, he said, with the Blues and South Island side Matatū set to clash in the final at Eden Park on Saturday night.
Results-wise, Bunting shouldered the blame and said he felt like they didn’t get some of their rugby quite right.
Bunting’s time at the Black Ferns started well, winning their first four tests by an average of about 36 points.
They stumbled against teams from the north in the inaugural WXV1 tournament, however, with losses to England and France - a 70-7 decimation of Wales between those fixtures - to end the year with a 5-2 record.
Last year wasn’t quite so successful, with the team first tripped up by Canada in the Pacific Four tournament, before losing three of their four tests on their trip north to finish the year 4-4 from eight tests.
“At the end of last year, WXV, we probably didn’t get some of our rugby quite right, and I’ll take that onto my shoulders,” Bunting reflected.
“There’s some areas of growth that I’ve needed to focus on too. In my role, I’ve gone from working with five or six management and about 20 players, that’s slowly grown to 16-plus management and we’ve had to contract about 45 players at once. There’s a lot more people, so how I communicate needed to definitely get better to get our alignment and how we needed to play.
“So, that’s not just the players in our group. There’s been some massive [lessons] and growth for me along the lines. I’ve absolutely enjoyed it. For me, I am a transformational leader, definitely not transactional, and it’s how far you can take a team, but how well it goes when you leave is important to me.”
This year will see added competition in the squad, with the inclusion of seven members of the Black Ferns Sevens being integrated into the XVs programme.
That included midfielders Stacey Waaka and Theresa Setefano, who were consistent members of the match-day squad when the Black Ferns won the 2022 tournament.
They’ll be joined by Risi Pouri-Lane, an option at halfback, versatile prop Dhys Faleafaga, utility backs Alena Saili and Kelsey Teneti, and Jorja Miller, who was New Zealand Rugby’s player of the year in 2024.
Bunting said the seven players making the move were the ones who were “definitely interested” in the opportunity.
“We knew that after the Olympics was finished, and it’s been the plan all along, that our Sevens ladies want to come and play a World Cup and it’s great to have them available. That internal competition is going to be really important for us.
“It’s a real tight race out there but, coming into a World Cup, the thing for me now, we have been chasing because we’re a little bit behind in the professional era, but now we’ve got a group of ladies that do win pinnacle events, are really experienced, and not just with the Sevens ladies coming across.
“About 10 or 11 of our ladies have been at a World Cup and when you put it all together, we’ve got a real balance of absolute experience and some youth that have learned, probably got chucked in the fire a little bit, but they’ve learned the hard way.
“There’s been some real growth coming through Aupiki, so bringing it all together is pretty exciting.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
