Tough and confrontational.
That was the description Black Ferns director of performance Allan Bunting gave of his side’s approach to training as their World Cup campaign ramps up.
The Black Ferns will play Ireland on Monday morning in a test that will decide which of the two teams tops the group and meets the lower qualifier between France and South Africa in the quarter-finals.
“I refereed training on Tuesday and the intensity was pretty high, and then I refereed again today and the intensity went up a bit,” Bunting said.
“There was a bit of back chat too, they didn’t like my refereeing, but yeah, I feel like they’re in a really good place.”
The two sides have met three times at test level, with Ireland winning twice. They’re the only team to hold a winning record over the Black Ferns, and knocked them out of contention for the World Cup final during pool play in 2014.
For Monday morning’s test, the New Zealand side have named a largely settled squad – with a couple of eye-catching changes.
There was no room in the squad for Katelyn Vahaakolo, with the 2023 World Rugby breakthrough player of the year making way to allow Braxton Sorensen-McGee to remain in the starting line-up as fullback Renee Holmes returns to the run-on side and Ayesha Leti-I’iga is back from injury and named on the bench.
“It’s millimetres, especially in the outsides. We’ve [been] blessed with absolute talent, haven’t we? The expectation is you’ve got to be really on your game and step up. [Vahaakolo’s] trained really well this week; selection’s tough,” Bunting said.
“The last couple of games [Sorensen-McGee] has been exceptional on the wing. To be able to have Brax and Renee on the field, with their skillsets, is really important. If she has to switch back to fullback then she can switch back there, but having them both on the field is important this week.”
It was a similar puzzle to solve in the make-up of the loose trio. After making her return from injury in last week’s win over Japan, co-captain Kennedy Tukuafu moves back to the bench as Jorja Miller gets the start at openside flanker, with Liana Mikaele-Tu’u back in the No 8 jersey and Layla Sae at blindside.
“It was her first game back last week and she was exceptional,” Bunting said of Tukuafu.
“She hadn’t played for a while and we’ve seen the real Kennedy there and whether Kennedy starts or comes off the bench, she’s going to be critical for us ... so is her leadership. We just see her coming off the bench this week is going to be really important.”
After last week’s win over Japan, Bunting said consistency and cohesion would take centre stage moving forward.
In their first two tests, Black Ferns selectors got all 32 players in their squad on to the field for meaningful minutes, but moving forward they would be running out their strongest available squad.
While Leti-I’iga was back in the line-up this week, midfielder Amy du Plessis (shoulder) and Kaipo Olsen-Baker still had some boxes to tick off before they would be seen in the matchday 23.
“Obviously we’ve got two injuries that are coming back. Our competition within the squads, you know, there’s little millimetres so our trainings ... they’re tough and confrontational. That’s everything we’ve asked for in this environment and, for this week, that’s our strongest team.”
Ireland are in a similar boat. They have made five changes in the starting XV, including naming co-captains Sam Monaghan and Edel McMahon at lock and openside flanker respectively, however fellow loose forward Aoife Wafer remains absent.
Wafer will be a big lift for the Irish when she is cleared to return from a knee injury, having been named the Six Nations player of the tournament this year.
“From the very beginning there’s been a plan in place around Aoife and her return,” Ireland coach Scott Bemand said.
“Everything is tracking well – she’s back training well and going strong. She’s desperate to be involved this weekend, and while we could have considered picking her, we decided her best opportunity is to go hard in training next week and see where that takes us.”
Black Ferns: 1. Chryss Viliko, 2. Georgia Ponsonby, 3. Tanya Kalounivale, 4. Maiakawanakaulani Roos, 5. Alana Bremner, 6. Layla Sae, 7. Jorja Miller, 8. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, 9. Risaleaana Pouri-Lane, 10. Ruahei Demant (cc), 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. Kate Henwood, 18. Amy Rule, 19. Laura Bayfield, 20. Kennedy Tukuafu (cc), 21. Maia Joseph 22. Theresa Setefano, 23. Ayesha Leti-I’iga.
Ireland: 1. Ellena Perry, 2. Neve Jones, 3. Linda Djougang, 4. Ruth Campbell, 5. Sam Monaghan (cc), 6. Grace Moore, 7. Edel McMahon (cc), 8. Brittany Hogan, 9. Aoibheann Reilly, 10. Dannah O’Brien, 11. Amee Leigh Costigan, 12. Eve Higgins, 13. Aoife Dalton, 14. Beibhinn Parsons, 15. Stacey Flood.
Bench: 16. Cliodhna Moloney MacDonald, 17. Niamh O’Dowd, 18. Sadhbh McGrath, 19. Eimear Corri-Fallon, 20. Claire Boles, 21. Emily Lane 22. Nancy McGillivray, 23. Anna McGann.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.