The Black Ferns have not had to look very far for motivation ahead of their bronze medal match against France on Saturday night.
For the first time in more than a decade, the New Zealand side will not feature in the final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup after losing their semifinal against Canada last weekend.
The Black Ferns found themselves well behind early on in that contest, with the Canadians building a 17-0 lead after 24 minutes, before going on to lose 34-19. For the defending champions, it wasn’t the sort of display they had hoped to produce at that stage of the tournament.
“The performance that we put out [against Canada] was motivation enough to let ourselves feel the feelings that we were feeling initially but then get back up on the horse and continue to train and prepare well for the match that we have on Saturday,” captain Ruahei Demant said.
“There was no other motivation really needed.”
The Black Ferns will welcome a handful of players back into the match-day 23 for the test against France. In the starting XV, lock Laura Bayfield and loose forward Jorja Miller have been cleared to return after undisclosed injuries kept them out of the semifinal.
On the bench, hooker Vici-Rose Green, loosehead prop Awhina Tangen-Wainohu and winger Katelyn Vahaakolo return to the squad, while lock Alana Bremner moves back to the bench with Bayfield starting.
It’s only the second time since they won their maiden World Cup title in 1998 that the New Zealand side have missed the World Cup final, with Canada meeting England in the main event being a repeat of the 2014 final in which England won their second crown.
“You probably didn’t see the best of us last week,” Black Ferns director of performance Allan Bunting said.
“I’m not taking anything away from Canada. They were pretty sharp, they were good, and when they score tries at eight, 11 and 24 minutes, we were chasing the game a bit. We’ve got another opportunity to really get our game going. We’ve got a massively talented squad and we’ve got an opportunity to really go and show it this week.”
With the outing being their last for 2025, the Black Ferns will look to finish on a high and hold on to their spot as the No 3-ranked team in the world. Should they lose, France – currently world No 4 – will take that spot from them and the New Zealanders will fall outside the top three for the first time.
The test also gives them another chance to address their issues around discipline, which again proved costly against Canada when they were on the wrong side of a 10-6 count.
“There wasn’t any lack of intent, right? Obviously discipline has been evident in all of our games. The focus has been on trying to be a bit cleaner and clearer and sharper with our decisions, but we don’t want to stop playing either. It’s pretty tough when you’ve got a penalty count like that – I think it was 10-1 at 75 minutes – that’s always going to be tough,” Bunting said.
“We still want our ladies to play, but just be a bit cleaner and clearer and show better pictures. We want to be decisive too.”
Black Ferns: 1. Chryss Viliko, 2. Georgia Ponsonby, 3. Tanya Kalounivale, 4. Maiakawanakaulani Roos, 5. Laura Bayfield, 6. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, 7. Jorja Miller, 8. Kaipo Olsen-Baker, 9. Risaleaana Pouri-Lane, 10. Ruahei Demant (c), 11. Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, 12. Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai’i Sylvia Brunt, 13. Stacey Waaka, 14. Braxton Sorensen-McGee, 15. Renee Holmes.
Bench: 16. Vici-Rose Green, 17. Awhina Tangen-Wainohu, 18. Amy Rule, 19. Alana Bremner, 20. Layla Sae, 21. Maia Joseph, 22. Theresa Setefano, 23. Katelyn Vahaakolo.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.