New Zealand Rugby has apologised for failing to properly support the elite women's game following a damning review into the Black Ferns culture. Video / Dean Purcell
OPINION:
I can't quite believe that Glenn Moore has retained his role as coach of the Black Ferns. I can't quite believe anyone has retained any role within that set-up. Coaches, administrators, anyone.
The standard response to team culture disasters and awful results is to extinguish the coach. It's convenientto lay the blame at the feet of the person in charge, remove them from their position and start a rebuilding process.
Not this time. Not this close to a World Cup. Not when the wider organisation has been complicit in the team's collapse.
The report into the disconnect within the Black Ferns makes for head-shaking reading. New Zealand Rugby should be congratulated for commissioning the report, and then releasing it in full – although perhaps they had no choice after the disintegration we've all seen. In essence, it is a damning indictment of the entire structure and its operation.
The hot mess that is Black Ferns rugby says that the success the team once enjoyed was accidental. A result of natural flair and passion - not the result of a long-term, considered and deeply understood masterplan. They fluked success while the rest of the rugby world were wrestling with the concept of full engagement with the women's game.
We should be thankful for the disaster of last year's northern tour. The wreckage of that shambles has resulted in an uncomfortable period for NZR, one which should bring a huge upheaval across the Black Ferns and women's rugby in general.
The Black Ferns lost four out of four games against England and France during their disappointing northern tour. Photo / Photosport
In order to rebuild, this structure needs to be razed to the ground. There is a strong sense that NZR made it up as they went along. What has worked for the men, through generations of understanding and effort, can't simply be copied and pasted in an effort to bring the same success for the women.
This is an opportunity that can't be lost. The Black Ferns are at their worst and their issues have been laid bare for everyone to see – all in the shadow of the upcoming World Cup.
Superficial changes at this stage won't protect them from being embarrassed in their own backyard by the new superpowers of the women's game. A quick repaint and a new garden will do nothing. Put a bulldozer through it and start from the foundations.
Understand why the hastily added extensions and new deck haven't helped, apply the uncomfortable recommendations of the report and realise this transformation will not occur over a few short months in order to bring success come the World Cup. Nor should it. Papering over cracks will further the damage to a vital area of New Zealand rugby.
Sometimes brutal truths must be flooded in light in order for people to comprehend their meaning. Being schooled at home in a huge tournament will do exactly that.
Moore has been hamstrung by the framework put in place by his paymasters, but should he carry the can for the higher powers that have overseen the slow decline? NZR don't think so and in standing by their man they have admitted that the tumult is not all his doing, his actions are a result of theirs.
In what has become the go-to solution for the national body, he has been surrounded by extra coaching resources so as to limit damage during the World Cup here in New Zealand.
I don't wish ill on the Ferns, I want them to succeed at year's end, but if this hasty patch-up job succeeds, I fear that the required foundation-up rebuild will be ignored by the national body based on success in one tournament.
