Behind the scenes with the winning Black Ferns Sevens in Hong Kong

In the tunnel underneath the roaring crowd at Kai Tak stadium, Risi Pouri-Lane gathers her team in a tight huddle blocking out the noise and delivers her final pre-match speech of the Hong Kong Sevens. All the dancing, team building, tactics and training have led the Black Ferns to another championship game against rivals Australia.

The Black Ferns Sevens are New Zealand Rugby’s strongest performers right now.

Going into the Hong Kong tournament, celebrating its 50th anniversary (but hosting only its fourth women’s event), the team had lost just two matches all season and triumphed in five of the six regular-season SVNS series tournaments, including the four leading up to the World Championship.

They arrive at the Marco Polo Hotel on the Monday before the tournament started, taking part in team meetings, morning training sessions and afternoon gym sessions.

However, there’s time for players to step away from the field to see local sights and shop, as seen on some of their social media accounts.

Game days would tend to follow a slightly different structure, starting with a preview meeting just over two hours before their first match kicks off.

The Black Ferns Sevens won their fourth Hong Kong tournament in a row. Photo / Photosport

On the Friday, the first day of the Hong Kong tournament, the coaching staff enter a makeshift gym on the ground floor of their hotel, setting up exercise stations for the players before they arrive.

The players arrive one by one, going through whatever they need to do to prepare, while maintaining a calm and relaxed atmosphere.

A card game starts up, while others are listening to music. Jaymie Kolose is seen juggling three tennis balls.

The Black Ferns Sevens prepare before heading to Kai Tak stadium in Hong Kong. Photo / Samuel Sherry

When it’s time to increase the session’s intensity, the players are called in to a tight huddle. They start to build towards their game with stretches and some more fun games involving tennis balls being thrown and caught with different coloured cones, before some passing drills begin. Soon, everyone has to pile into the small bus heading to Kai Tak Sports Park.

Assistant coach Edwin Cocker stands at the front of the bus next to head coach Cory Sweeney, who says he enjoys the Hong Kong tournament more than most others, in part because of how the stadium is built to host these types of events. In Hong Kong, each team has their own changing room, something other stadiums played at during the season can’t always provide.

The intensity slowly builds as the team enters the stadium, with each player doing their individual stretches and heading out to train in the area marked out for teams in the fan village.

The coaching staff head out first to set everything up for the players so they can swiftly begin their pre-match warm-up. Cocker and Sweeney get a chance to have a kick and a pass with fans who’ve come to watch.

Once the women arrive, they form a circle and have a dance before they begin their drills – the song tends to change each day, with the Cha Cha Slide helping to hype them up on Saturday.

This structured routine happens before every warm-up, whether it be for a pool game or a final, and keeps spirits high and positive before kickoff.

The Black Ferns Sevens before their first match in Hong Kong. Photo / Samuel Sherry

The warm-up continues as planned on the Friday, despite a torrential downpour and the threat of thunder and lightning forcing most fans inside and the stadium roof to be closed.

The slow build towards kickoff continues and a return to the stadium is always marked by Cynthia Erivo’s Stand Up and the players walking single file, holding on to one another’s jerseys.

The intensity ramps up in the tunnel before kickoff. The players put on their black shirts and huddle up one last time for a pre-match speech from Risi Pouri-Lane and then out on to the field.

The preparation works, as they sweep Brazil aside, 29-12, and later Japan, 38-7.

The toughest part of the day is the time between their games, where the coaching staff must bring the players back down before ramping the intensity up again a few hours later.

They’re encouraged to eat plenty of carbs after the game and are told to sleep, with a certain amount of time allowed for technology before it has to be switched off.

Everything is timed to the minute, making sure nobody feels rushed and the preparation for each match can be followed as it has been all season.

The Black Ferns Sevens warm up in Hong Kong. Photo / Samuel Sherry

While the players sleep, the coaching staff can analyse the next opponent and make adjustments where needed.

The mood remains joyful and calm at the end of the first day as everyone hops on the bus back to the hotel, with more Olivia Dean songs playing this time compared to the late-2000s and early-2010s pop bangers that soundtracked the drive to the stadium.

Once back at the hotel, everyone eats and heads to bed, only to repeat the cycle for the next day of the tournament.

A win over Fiji on the Saturday in front of a packed South Stand means the Black Ferns Sevens will play Spain in the quarter-finals and gives the team plenty of time to watch some of the other games on the screen in their changing room, including the All Blacks Sevens match against Australia.

Despite the minimal interaction between the New Zealand men’s and women’s teams over the weekend, there is strong reciprocal support for members of each team and a desire to see them succeed.

While some of the team are watching the match, Katelyn Vahaakolo, who was celebrating her 26th birthday, is asked by a member of the Argentina Women’s Sevens team for a picture, with her and some of the other girls interacting with the South American team during down times.

The game-day routine is followed once more and results in another victory for New Zealand, setting up a tough fixture against Canada in the semi-final. Meanwhile, great rivals Australia, whom the Black Ferns Sevens have played in each tournament’s final so far this season, were to face off against France.

Sunday’s preview meeting starts with a game of catch the balloon, where Kelsey Teneti blows up a balloon and lets it go – with everyone else in the room taking turns at trying to catch it.

Head coach Cory Sweeny would take part in some games before meetings. Photo / Samuel Sherry

A more official team-builder game comes with the squad being split in two, with the players having to throw a tennis ball at a stack of foam rollers – the team that knocks it down the most times in one minute wins the game.

The game starts chaotically with a ball being fired at Jorja Miller, before accuracy improves.

The players are able to switch quickly and focus on preparing for their match against Canada, another team they overcome, this time 31-12.

More players watch the second semi-final between Australia and France, but there’s a feeling it would be inevitable they would face Australia in the final yet again. When the team from across the Ditch eventually overcome their European foes, everyone quickly slips back into their routine.

There is more of a fun atmosphere among the team before the final compared with preparation for the other matches during the tournament.

Card games are played, Braxton Sorensen-McGee and Katelyn Vahaakolo film TikTok or Instagram videos together and the whole squad comes together for a Pitch Perfect-style sing-off before heading out to train.

Head coach Cory Sweeney says this sort of atmosphere is critical for the team’s success. The losses, he says, are more likely to come when everyone is quiet.

An atmosphere like this can only emerge if the team genuinely like and respect one another, especially with each of them having to spend such long stretches away at tournaments.

The pre-match routine is followed again, and captain Risi Pouri-Lane gives a rousing speech reminding each player of the standards they have set themselves throughout the year.

Australia prove to be the Black Ferns Sevens’ toughest opponent of the competition, but strong and disciplined performances all round carry the team over the line and secure another tournament victory in Hong Kong, their fourth in a row in the city.

After winning the final 19-14, the players slightly alter their routine. Some are having a beer to celebrate their victory, while others practise their Ngā Rongo Toa haka before performing it at the presentation ceremony.

The players let loose a little more once back on the field, filming more videos and spending time with former teammates Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Ruby Tui and Tyla King, who are on-site as broadcasters.

A return to the changing rooms, and Maia Davis does her first ever shoey with the celebratory champagne. It looks unlikely she’ll be trying one again. Kelsey Teneti exchanges pairs of shorts with some of the Argentina players.

Standards continue to be maintained amid the celebration. As the team pack their gear, they clean up their dressing room before departing on the bus back to the hotel.

Jorja Miller belts out a verse of Dolly Parton’s Islands in the Stream, while Mahina Paul and Manaia Nuku keep asking for song requests, with pizza waiting for them all as part of the celebrations at the hotel.

The Black Ferns Sevens now have some time to relax and recover before the final two tournaments of the season in Valladolid and Bordeaux, starting on May 29 and June 5. They will return to the pitch with the same formula that has brought them so much success.