Black Ferns v Canada: Accuracy the difference in Women’s Rugby World Cup loss, says Allan Bunting

Black Ferns director of performance Allan Bunting. Photo / Getty Images

With a spot in the Rugby World Cup final on the line, Canada came for the scalp of the reigning champions and did not miss their target.

Strong in possession, physical in defence and causing problems with their ruck speed, the Canadians took full advantage of everything the Black Ferns gave them. On the other side of the field, the Black Ferns had some good moments, but ultimately made things tough on themselves through their discipline and execution, or lack thereof.

It was that difference in accuracy that Black Ferns director of performance Allan Bunting lamented when reflecting on the clash.

“They were accurate and too many errors, penalties and just our discipline was probably the real difference,” Bunting said.

“But having said that, there were some massive efforts out there. Lou [Ruahei Demant] in her 50th, just right from the start all the way ‘til the end, and our set piece was solid today. [There were] massive areas we went really well in and obviously our ladies are going to play aren’t they? Sometimes it’s not going to be our day and unfortunately that was today. So probably just too many errors.”

Canada made the Black Ferns pay consistently for errors, with the first two of their five tries coming directly off the back of an error or penalty conceded by the defending champions. They went ahead 17-0 inside 25 minutes and had 59% of the first-half possession to take full advantage of the New Zealand side’s inability to address the slow starts that have plagued them throughout the tournament.

“We got stuck down in our own half and when you give them ball in our own half, they’re really accurate down there and they score points,” Bunting said.

While the Black Ferns were able to shore things up in the second half – having 68% of the ball in that period and spending a lot of time in Canadian territory – they were forced to work hard for every point they could get.

The penalty count ended at 10-6 in favour of the Canadians, but that was somewhat levelled out through the final stages of the test when the result was all but assured. The Black Ferns conceded penalties on both sides of the ball, relinquishing possession a number of times with inaccuracies at the breakdown.

“Credit to Canada. They came out hissing in those 20 minutes and we just left it a little too late,” Black Ferns co-captain Kennedy Tukuafu said. “Our discipline probably didn’t help us out much either and, yeah, we just didn’t hold on to the ball long enough to be able to put points on.”

It wasn’t for a lack of trying as the Black Ferns kept throwing plenty at the Canadians. No 8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker was again immense with a game-high 150m from 34 carries, while right wing Braxton Sorensen-McGee made 115m from 17 carries and added one more to her try-scoring count for the tournament.

But ultimately Canada stood firm, seeing off the late Black Ferns’ charge to relegate the defending champions to the battle for bronze.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.