The Black Ferns are getting a chance to flex their creative sides.
With the World Cup being played in New Zealand for the first time, the fans have turned out in their droves to support the home team. Their tournament opener against Australia at Eden Park last weekend was soldout, as is this weekend's match against Wales in Waitākere.
A welcome experience for the players, the booming noise from the spectators has added another challenge to be solved throughout the tournament, as the players struggle at times to hear what their teammates are trying to tell them during the game.
As a work-around, Black Ferns midfielder Theresa Fitzpatrick revealed the team had been training with crowd noises being pumped out of a boom box, as well as trying to come up with some innovative ways of getting messages to their teammates.
"Something different that you probably wouldn't think of with the previous games that we've played is that you might not actually be able to hear the person two metres away from you," Fitzpatrick said.
"[We're] getting used to that and communicating in different ways; sometimes you won't actually be able to yell so you need signals and eye contact."
Blasting crowd noise while the side are training was something head coach Wayne Smith introduced coming into the tournament as, for many in the team, this is their first time experiencing such loud crowds. Fitzpatrick said the exercise probably wouldn't work if they were using music rather than faux crowd noise, as "there would too be much dancing".
Black Ferns midfielder Theresa Fitzpatrick (right) during a training session. Photo / Photosport
The 27-year-old likened Saturday's crowd for their 41-17 win over Australia to that of the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast – however nothing quite compared to the home support.
"The Comm Games in Aussie was very loud, and it was probably a little bit different because there were a lot of people cheering for Australia so not a lot of that noise was for us, so I think that's why it's really nice knowing, the majority of the support, they're actually cheering for you."
The Black Ferns' tournament gets back underway on Sunday afternoon against Wales, who claimed a narrow win over Scotland in their first match. The match will be the second played in Sunday's slate at Waitākere Stadium, between Italy v Canada and Fiji v South Africa.
Fitzpatrick said with the pressure of the first game now out of the way, the side could look forward to their match this weekend with that weight off their shoulders.
"For us girls, we don't really play a lot of rugby here in New Zealand so to see the support everyone at Eden Park gave us, and everyone around New Zealand – we'd go for walks in the city and people would yell out of their cars 'good luck today' and we're like 'gosh, they know we're playing' - it's pretty special."
