The process of looking back in order to move forward has begun for the Black Ferns.
A third-placed finish at the Rugby World Cup in England brought with it an end to their season and to the current contracts of the management team.
Over the coming weeks, New Zealand Rugby will dive into the World Cup cycle to review the programme and put plans in place for its continued growth. It is a process that has already begun, with NZR general manager of professional rugby and performance Chris Lendrum noting a lot of hard work lies ahead before the team are back together early next year.
The most recent Black Ferns cycle was one of development and inconsistency. In three years under the watch of performance director Allan Bunting and his team, they had a record of 17 wins, seven losses and a draw. However, in 12 tests against the other four sides ranked in the top five – England, Canada, France and Ireland – they posted four wins, seven losses and a draw.
This year was the best of the three for the Black Ferns, with an 8-1-1 record; soundly beating Ireland and France at the World Cup but again struggling with Canada, who are now unbeaten against the Black Ferns in their last three meetings.
“I think we’ve finished in a really good position,” Lendrum said. “The culture in the team is fantastic. We’ve got some really outstanding people in the management group.
“Our job is to look at that now and say, ‘Is that exactly the right group to take us forward?’, knowing what we know about the next four years and what’s just happened.”
The tournament in England saw the Black Ferns lose their World Cup title for the first time since 2017. It was just the second time since 1994 that they had not lifted the trophy.
During the tournament, discipline issues and slow starts hindered them, which came to a head in their semifinal loss to Canada.
They were, however, the second-highest scorers in the tournament, behind eventual winners England, and led the competition in clean breaks.
“I think, ultimately, they fell short of what they hoped for themselves, and what they were playing for and, of course, what we were hoping as an organisation, but that’s sport,” Lendrum said.
“They were beaten by a really excellent Canadian team that played near-perfect rugby for 60 minutes. We weren’t quite at our best, and that’s the margin in sudden-death games.
“It’s not a result that we are really concerned about in the sense of does it mean we’re heading in the right direction or not. We know we’re heading in the right direction. But sometimes you don’t get what you want.”
Looking ahead, Lendrum said NZR was expecting to announce a “much improved and much more consistent” calendar for the Black Ferns from 2026 onwards, one that would provide opportunities for players to compete in both sevens and the 15-a-side game more regularly.
That crossover has been successful for the Black Ferns in the past couple of World Cup cycles. In this year’s squad, Jorja Miller, Risaleaana Pouri-Lane, Stacey Waaka and Theresa Setefano all came from the sevens programme, while Braxton Sorensen-McGee is expected to play sevens in 2026.
It was always the plan for Sorensen-McGee, who was named World Rugby’s breakthrough women’s XVs player, to move to the sevens programme, Lendrum said.
“She’d signed initially for sevens, then made herself available for the World Cup and obviously spent all of her time playing Aupiki and XVs this year. So the plan at the moment is she will try her hand at sevens properly next year and actually get a chance to play.”
The new calendar would mean players would have a good opportunity to compete in sevens, Super Rugby Aupiki and “a good chunk” of the Black Ferns season, he said.
“We want more of our best players playing more often, more available and visible to their fans who are loyal and passionate, and that gives us the platform for further growth.
“We’re really proud of the players and the team and what they’ve achieved. We didn’t achieve our ultimate goal of making the final and winning it, and so there is disappointment around that.
“But it just goes to show that the women’s game is growing. I think this programme’s got a really sound foundation and I’m really excited about the team attacking the next four years, where we’ve got more games. More consistent games against the top opposition is a really exciting situation.”
In the meantime, however, the organisation will look back on the campaign and how to move forward into the next cycle, with Lendrum suggesting that process – and the appointment of coaches and management – was expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Bunting wasn’t sure where his future with the Black Ferns lay when arriving back in New Zealand on Tuesday, but said he had some ideas on what he would like to see for the team, beyond more crossover with the sevens programme.
“I’ve got a few things that I probably could add to that, but at the moment we just need to do some real good review and reflections, and I’m sure that the key learnings will come out of it.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.