It’s remarkable how you can dress up a massive team restructuring with sweet words.
Allan Bunting makes sweeping changes to his starting XV, safe in the knowledge that they can defeat the Eagles with any side he sends out. But diplomacy demands that he camouflages the reasons for picking a new-look side.
Many Kiwi fans may have to search their memories as they read these names:
1. Esther Faiaoga-Tilo*, 2. Grace Gago*, 3. Amy Rule (14 caps), 4. Joanah Ngan-Woo (18), 5. Maiakawanakaulani Roos (captain, 16), 6. Lucy Jenkins (1), 7. Kendra Reynolds (11), 8. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u (13), 9. Iritana Hohaia (2), 10. Rosie Kelly (2), 11. Grace Steinmetz (1), 12. Grace Brooker (3), 13. Amy du Plessis (9), 14. Kelsey Teneti (2), 15. Tenika Willison (1)
Bench: 16. Georgia Ponsonby (15), 17. Phillipa Love (26), 18. Tanya Kalounivale (8), 19. Chelsea Bremner (14), 20. Kennedy Simon (15), 21. Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu (14), 22. Ruahei Demant (28), 23. Renee Holmes (12)
*uncapped
It would be discourteous in the extreme for Bunting to state his views on the contest as he really sees them. Instead, he praises his new captain Maia Roos for becoming the youngest ever (21) to be appointed to that honoured role.
No mention of the total of 93 caps for the entire starting Fifteen or the minuscule 20 caps owned by the backs, Of course the Ferns play extraordinarily few tests, but 93 is a measure of how unworried he is by the threat of defeat.
Inevitably, the eight on the bench can claim far more, 132. How must the Eagles, players and staff react to this? It’s hard for them to feel insulted. How will World Rugby react? Probably relief that the outcome will be less extreme than if Bunting had sent his entire High Seas Fleet into action. Instead he throws the emphasis on team-building and increasing depth. This is the last of three Ottawa fixtures, so there is every justification for giving all squad members a decent run-out.
Last time round the result was 50-12 in the RWC in Whangarei. The Ferns’ reward now is a place in WXV1, an outcome that was predictable from the moment the schedule was announced. The Eagles will take their place in the second tier.
The Eagles
Rich Ashfield has made a number of changes too. He admits his team is facing a severe challenge, but they have been working on some details to improve their overall performance. Like Bunting he takes the opportunity to give more players the chance to show their worth. He includes one new cap, Erica Jarrell, on the bench.
Ashfield reveals the gap in experience between the two sides when he says that some of his squad came quite new to what he terms ‘senior rugby’, by which we must hope he means test rugby (abroad), not representative rugby.
For all the hard work Rob Cain put in during his stay as Head Coach, there is still a long road ahead for the Eagles to regain their pre-eminent position of the 1990s.
The squad:
Catherine Benson, Kathryn Treder, Charli Jacoby, Rachel Ehrecke, Hallie Taufoou, Freda Tafuna, Georgia Perris-Redding, Rachel Johnson, Taina Tukuafu, McKenzie Hawkins, Summer Harris-Jones, Eti Haungatau, Kate Zackary (captain), Jennine Detiveaux, Tess Feury
Bench: Jett Hayward, Mona Tupou, Tiara A’au, Evelyn Ashenbricker, Erica Jarrell*, Olivia Ortiz, Joanne Fa’avesi, Meya Bizer
*uncapped
Longer-term effects
As we look at the impending WXV we can understand the risks WR were taking with the structures it adopted.
The eighteen teams involved are more than we have ever seen competing in a World Cup. There, totals of 100+ points have been recorded in the past. The evening-out of standards is going to be a slow burner.
Details: Friday 14 July, TD Place Stadium, Ottawa
