A look back at the Black Ferns v Black Ferns XV – lessons and deductions
Background
And there’s a lot of it!
The management had three aims in mind: the coming test against Australia, a first ever tour of South Africa for a “Black Ferns XV” (aka a second squad); and, most important, the RWC next month.
Their answer was to summon 58 players to this match in Whangarei. It was very much a trial game with rolling subs, but NZ’s leading referee, Maggie Cogger-Orr was politely asked to insist on the tightest application of the laws.
The teams are listed below, but the question is: was this the best use of resources? How much could staff and analysts learn from an average of 40 minutes playing time?
The BF team was largely reshaped at half-time, which meant that the “XV” were up against it all through. Were the management so short of knowledge about individuals that they really needed all 58 present? (Arithmetic: 32 to go to England; 23 to play Australia and a large enough squad to play two inaugural tests against the Boks). Does that add up to 58?
The more changes there are mid-game, the less cohesion will result.
The Game
The start was delayed by the need for the National Anthem and two hakas! So this was serious.
For the first twenty minutes any opposing management (Canadian, English, French) would not have been twitching nervously.
Atlanta Lolohea twice overthrew a line-out to spoil an attacking position. Iritana Hohaia tapped a penalty, but her following kick flew straight into touch.
Kicking out of hand remained largely unimpressive. Four drop-outs failed to reach 10 metres, and only a few tactical kicks worked well.
It took the Ferns 20 minutes to unlock the door. Portia Woodman-Wickliffe made inroads on the right. When the ball came back the other way Braxton Sorensen-McGee had space to spare.
But both sides were making errors: ruck-recycling was rarely fast; possession was lost on contact and hopeful passes couldn’t find a home.
Allan Bunting will be relieved that his two packs (first and second half) had the edge in the tight, but the black shirts started pulling away from their white shirted opponents only after the break.
There the presence of Ruahei Demant at 10 was once more crucial. The backs grew slicker in their linking, allowing Katelyn Vahaakolo and BSM to show their paces.
The XV had their good moments; Laura Bayfield and Hollyrae Mete-Renata showed well in the first half. But as the game moved into the last quarter, the Ferns took charge, extending a half-time lead of 21-5 to a closing 45-12.
Willie Walker, in the charge of the XV, will be delighted with a last-minute riposte; from well inside their own half they kept working very hard, till a gap opened on the left for Lucy Jenkins. Ruby Tui was there to complete her second.
Result: 45-12
Teams
Black Ferns
1 TANGEN-WAINOHU 2 LOLOHEA 3 MAHUTARIKI-FAKALELU 4 A. BREMNER (c) 5 MO’ONIA-VAIPULLI 6 ANDERSON 7 SAE 8 MIKAELE TU’U 9 JOSEPH 10 BRAZIER 11 VAHAAKOLO 12 BRUNT 13 WAAKA 14 WOODMAN-WICKLIFFE 15 SORENSEN
16 HENWOOD 17 GREEN 18 KALOUNIVALE 19 C. BREMNER 20 ROOS 21 MILLER 22 POURI-LANE 23 DEMANT 24 LETI-I’IEA 25 SETEFANO 26 DU PLESSIS 27 HOLMES 28 VILIKO 29 PONSONBY 30 RULE
Black Ferns XV
1 MURRAY 2 CONNOR 3 PALU 4 BAYFIELD 5 TAYLOR 6 GREENWAY (c) 7 E. P. KING 8 BASON 9 HOHAIA 10 H. KING 11 KOLOSE 12 METE-RENATA 13 TENETI 14 TUI 15 NEPIA
16 GAGO 17 TIHORE 18 PARKES 19 ROBINSON 20 T E IRINGA 21 TULI-PALE 22 JENKINS 23 SOLOMONA 24 ANDERSON 25 SU’A-SMITH 26 MCGREGOR 27 PALAMO 28 TURNER
Afterthoughts
There’s little doubt a first-choice Ferns team could beat the world – again! But doubts remain. Basics like ball-retention, ruck speed and kicking accuracy were called into question.
It’s hard to find fault with backs of the quality of Ruahei Demant, the centres Du Plessis and Brunt and the wide backs – in attack. But in defence?
Then there’s Bunting’s overall game-plan: how much kicking and what exit-strategies?
The forwards remain a potential weakness. I doubt if the Canadian and English packs will be losing too much sleep over what they saw.
