There was a moment when Wayne Smith thought his style, one steeped in New Zealand rugby history, might have been all wrong for the Black Ferns.
Smith seems to have made all the right moves in the seven months since answering an SOS call to take over a side humbledby on-field results and hampered by off-field concerns. But as the Black Ferns prepared to cap a resurgent season by chasing a sixth World Cup crown against England, the master coach revealed his initial doubts about the master plan.
A journey that tonight will end at a sold-out Eden Park began on the slightly emptier Lincoln University fields, where the Black Ferns took their first steps under the new regime against an academy men’s side.
Smith, whose passion for rugby and coaching philosophy was stirred while watching his favourite player, Ian Kirkpatrick, flourish with his favourite team, the 1967-69 All Blacks, was now watching one of his new charges commit an act antithetical to everything he loved about the game.
It was a minor moment, but one that opened Smith’s eyes and lodged in his mind: a player, doing as she’d been taught, saw the ball on one sideline so duly headed for the other. Smith seized her by the shorts and started implementing an approach that, tonight, could take the Black Ferns back to the top of the world.
“I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing when I came in but I wanted to create a game that was true to our DNA,” Smith said on the eve of the final match of his rescue mission – and final match in one of New Zealand sport’s great careers.
“They were just used to different structures, and they were very structured. Whereas my idea was more, if the attack’s going on here, that’s where we want to be. We want to be attacking where the ball is and not having to run to a place where they’re told to go.
“That was eye-opening to me, but the other thing that was eye-opening was how quickly they adjusted and how quickly they saw the logic in what we were trying to do.”
That logic was simple. The Black Ferns ended 2021 with four defeats by France and England, scoring 47 points while conceding 166. If they were to end 2022 by beating those same sides, by playing in front of world-record crowds and for the first time winning a home World Cup, change was essential.
“We knew that we couldn’t come to this tournament and play the same way the other teams did and get this far,” Smith said. “We knew we had to do something different.”
The Black Ferns, the coach saw, couldn’t compete with the physical forward packs and set-piece supremacy of those northern pacesetters. Of equal salience, why would they want to try?
Why would they want to temper their athletic urges and abandon the type of rugby they grew up with on the playground, the type of rugby that made an 11-year-old Smith inch a little closer to the television screen?
“I used to watch them and their forwards could catch and pass like backs,” Smith said of the late-60s All Blacks. “I’ve always had that in my mind. You talk about 15-man rugby – that’s 15-man rugby. That’s what I love about rugby and, once I got put into this role, my aim was to try and be true to that with the women.”
If his aim was true, the Black Ferns have rarely missed. Told to take risks and make mistakes, they’ve scored 79 tries in 11 games, all victories, and their 234 points at this tournament are five fewer than tonight’s opponents, an England side Smith rates as the best women’s rugby has seen.
Attack has been the focus for Portia Woodman and the Black Ferns. Photo / photosport.nz
Their attacking emphasis was exemplified in the final moments of last weekend’s semifinal victory over France. After Kennedy Simon caught the missed penalty that would have knocked out the hosts, clinging to a one-point lead while on her own line with seconds remaining, the replacement No 8 briefly considered putting Portia Woodman into a hole that could have reaped a runaway try, before thinking better of it.
“We’ve played rugby that I’ve been really proud of,” Smith said. “Not reinventing anything but just teaching the girls how to play on top of teams and how to create the skills that only we need because we’re the only ones playing that sort of game.
“There’s a unique set of skills and a unique mindset to playing how we play, and I wasn’t sure whether we’d be able to create that or not. But I think we’ve done that. We’re not perfect but hopefully it’s a blueprint for the future because I think it’s excited people and it’s excited the girls.”
It hasn’t been only fans and players buoyed by this last year and, especially, these last few weeks.
Nearing retirement – again – Smith never knew he would so relish this final role, an enlivening experience after a life spent in the staid world of men’s rugby.
“It’s a time to cherish – the team, the event, there’s a lot of emotions that come into the last week of a tournament like this,” he said. “I’ve come to love it. I love these girls and I’ve really enjoyed the whole atmosphere. We’ve had a lot of fun.”
Four keys for the Black Ferns
1. Slow their roll
England will be hoping to trap their opponents in a cycle of pressure from which there is no escape. They will aim to draw the Black Ferns into infringing, then use their fearsome lineout drive to attract further penalties and eventually turn that pressure into points. Discipline will be crucial.
2. Feed the back three
New Zealand’s greatest area of strength relative to their opposition is their explosive back three, each of whom is in form after firing throughout the tournament. Good things will inevitably follow whenever Renee Holmes, Ruby Tui and Portia Woodman are allowed some time and space with the ball.
3. Play at tempo – to a point
A quick game’s a good game, as far as the hosts are concerned, and they’ll again want to stretch the defence by pairing a high tempo with their inclination to attack. Wayne Smith said his side had learned how to avoid running themselves off their feet and that balance would be even more pivotal amid the excitement of a final.
4. Get on top
England coach Simon Middleton tried to shift pressure to the Black Ferns, but that was undercut by having already declared it a “failure” if his side didn’t win their 31st straight game and claim the World Cup. The pressure will only enhance – along with the fervour of a parochial home crowd – if New Zealand get ahead on the scoreboard.
