With their World Cup quest fulfilled in spectacular fashion, the Black Ferns’ next aim is to become “unstoppable”.
It would be bold to bet against this team achieving that target, given the unbeaten year they’ve enjoyed, but the players know it won’t be automatic.
They know — and said asmuch on Saturday night — that for the Black Ferns to achieve sustained success one thing will be needed above all.
“I honestly just think we need more games,” said Stacey Fluhler, among New Zealand’s best in the thrilling victory over England. “We need to play more top-tier teams.
“We obviously play Australia quite a lot, but we need to play England and France and Canada more. The more we play together, the better we’re going to get.”
Fluhler, nursing a suspected broken ankle she suffered while setting up the match-winning try, drew contrast with what happened when the Black Ferns were underprepared.
“The last tour, we didn’t have a lot of game time under our belts, so we did get under the pump and we got thrashed,” she said of the four defeats by England and France. “But we had more games this year with the Pac Four and the Laurie O’Reilly, so if we can continue that momentum and build forward then we’re going to be unstoppable.”
Those competitions, as Fluhler outlined, gave New Zealand plenty of fixtures against Australia, Canada and the United States. But what was really required to build women’s rugby — and not just boost the Black Ferns’ prospects — was regular fixtures with the well-resourced northern nations.
Stacey Fluhler and Theresa Fitzpatrick celebrate after winning the World Cup. Photo / Photosport
World Rugby will in the coming weeks announce detailed plans for a new WXV competition, a 16-team and three-tier event set to give each union six tests, a prospect that Fluhler welcomed.
“That’s exciting, and I think the one thing that came out of this tournament is the bottom tier — you see the likes of Fiji and Wales — they all played amazing rugby,” she said. “So if they can get more game time, too, then it’s going to make the level of competition more even.
“England and France are amazing teams and they’ve been on top for a while, but if we can bring those lower-tier teams up together and have more game time, then look how amazing the growth of the game can be.”
Coach Wayne Smith was certainly amazed by the strides already made, recalling his first involvement with the Black Ferns, in 1997, came before they played England at Burnham Military Camp.
“I never thought in a hundred years that we’d be standing out in the middle of Eden Park and 40,000 people would be chanting for the Black Ferns,” Smith said. “Something’s ignited this country around women’s rugby, and we’ve got to make it count.
“We’ve got make it count with 7-, 8-, 9-year-olds, who all play ripper but when they go to high school there’s no team or no coach, so they go and play other sports. That’s what we’ve got to get right.”
That will come with greater investment, starting with an expansion of Super Rugby Aupiki after the inaugural season featured only three rounds.
This year’s initial steps into professionalisation must increase, Smith said, or the Black Ferns would be at risk of falling behind before their next great challenge: defending their World Cup in England in 2025.
“I think we’ve got the best athletes in the world for the game — what worries me is that if we don’t surge ahead now, you’ve got highly professionalised French and English teams, you’ve got some of those other Northern Hemisphere teams following suit.
“We’ve got to stay up with the pack and keep these wonderful athletes providing what they’re providing now on the field.”
