“We’ve got world-class ball carriers and tacklers, our physicality is something we want to really be known for. That’s been a massive theme of ours for this year and going into the World Cup.”
The Black Ferns will hosts Canada in Christchurch in what is likely to be the highlight clash of the Pacific Four tournament.
Both Canada and Australia finished above the Black Ferns in the WXV 1 tournament last year, and Canada have been a consistent quantity on the world stage – finishing fourth in the World Cup in 2022.
They have made a strong start to their campaign in the Pacific Four tournament, following up a 50-7 win over the United States with a 33-14 win over Australia last weekend.
“Canada play a similar game to us,” Ponsonby said.
“They’re also a really fit squad, like to get the ball into space and have a really good running and kicking game.
“It’ll be a really good battle out there.”
The Black Ferns will be looking to build upon their season opener against USA, in which they made a rapid start to lead by a long way early, before the visitors were able to have some good moments of their own.
Discipline was a big part of that, especially in the second half as the Black Ferns often gave away pressure-relieving penalties.
It did give the side the challenge of having to defend their line for some extended periods, however, Ponsonby said it was an indication of the work still needed to be done.
“We’re just trying to still instill consistency into our game. We want to be up throughout the entire game and not have drop-offs, which we saw towards the end of the first half and we didn’t get the start that we wanted in the second half,” she said.
“We’re just striving for consistently good performances; great performances actually. That’s probably our main focus for this weekend.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
