Six talking points from the Black Ferns’ 34-31 victory in the World Cup final at Eden Park.
Taking the game to the people
There’s been so much to like about the Black Ferns, but above all else they’ve embraced followers in a way that felt like an invitation tojoin a warm, happy club.
Before the World Cup final I’d never seen rugby fans here roaring for 80 minutes like a South American football crowd. I’d never seen a player, Ruby Tui, encourage what’s normally a hugely inhibited Kiwi audience to sing as lustily as they do at rugby tests in Cardiff.
Winning the World Cup was an astonishing triumph, but the public’s reaction was just as magical.
Seize the day
New Zealand Rugby has a chance to change the face of the game in this country.
Right now they should be moving heaven and earth to make damn sure the wave of support for the women’s game doesn’t ebb away.
Proof of the impact the Cup’s had came very close to home. The day after going with her parents and brother to the final, my youngest grand-daughter, nine-year-old Chloe, moved on from American online influencers to become a Ruby Tui follower on TikTok.
The Cup has struck a chord with the demographic, young girls and boys, rugby needs to thrive and grow. I doubt there’s ever been as many family groups at Eden Park for an international as there’s been at this tournament. And imagine how many people would flock to a three-test series between the Ferns and England.
Boldness was her friend
Joanah Ngan-Woo and Wayne Smith celebrate. Photo / Getty
The Ferns had skill and speed to burn, but in the last seconds of the final the winning was in the hands of 26-year-old lock Joanah Ngan-Woo, who competed at the English throw five metres from the New Zealand line. England’s rolling maul had been lethal, and if they’d won the lineout they would surely have scored and won the match.
Ngan-Woo got the word from the coaches’ box not to defend the maul, but to compete for the ball with England’s best jumper, Abbie Ward. How much pressure was that? Ngan-Woo, in her 17th test, had to get the better of Ward, a 61-test veteran.
Ngan-Woo’s leap for the ball, which she’d later note was the “bread and better stuff” that “we do every day at training”, saw her slap the ball away from Ward. Prop Krystal Murray seized it, England infringed, and the game was over. There may never be a more important moment in Ngan-Woo’s rugby career.
Player of the day
In a game filled with heart-stopping moments Stacey Fluhler sealed a brilliant display by finishing off the try of the tournament straight after halftime. Fluhler was superb in everything she did, and the beaming smile on her face as she crossed the line to score spoke volumes for delight she finds in playing the game.
Stacey Fluhler and her Black Ferns teammates celebrate winning the Rugby World Cup final. Photo / Photosport
The force was strong
Since 2019 England have forged the greatest record in international rugby. Their captain, Sarah Hunter, and coach, Simon Middleton, have exemplified grace and class.
But thank the rugby gods they didn’t win the Cup.
If they’d scored in the last, frantic seconds of the game it would have been with their fifth rolling maul try.
They live by the maul, bashing and rumbling tedious paths to the goalline like Darth Vaders in white jerseys. The maul has become a blight on the game in general, a tactic that allows obstruction of would-be tacklers.
On the famous stone at Rugby School it says that in 1823 William Webb Ellis originated rugby when he “took the ball in his arms and ran with it”. The Ferns have lived by that mantra. You’d hope future world champions will too.
Sad but fair
Scottish referee Hollie Johnson broke the trend amongst referees at the Cup. They’ve often been wishy-washy about dangerous tackles, but Johnson had no choice but to send off England’s Lydia Thompson when Thompson’s upright tackle led to a devastating head clash with Portia Woodman.
The red card robbed England of playing with 15 women for the three-quarters of the game. It also meant Woodman, who had looked lethal before she was so scarily injured, was lost to the Ferns. Sadly the card was the right decision.
