Canterbury will feature several Black Ferns in their Farah Palmer Cup squad this season. Photo / Photosport
The need for game time will see Black Ferns hopefuls turn out in droves for the Farah Palmer Cup season, with players looking to press their case for higher honours later in the year.
With the Black Ferns hosting the World Cup in October, national team players will be available
for nearly all of the national provincial competition – with those selected for the Laurie O'Reilly Cup tests against Australia missing weeks six and seven before rejoining their squads.
Ahead of the opening round of the competition this weekend, Canterbury and Black Ferns halfback Kendra Cocksedge told Newstalk ZB's Nick Bewley getting game time under their belts was an absolute necessity for World Cup preparations.
"I'll just put it out there – I think, for us, we have to play as much rugby as we can," Cocksedge said. "That's been told to us, so the availability for Canterbury is really high and that's really exciting. We're fully integrated into the Canterbury team, and if you're successful in making those Laurie O'Reilly [tests] you file out for two weeks then come back into it.
"There's going to be no rest for the wicked. It's going to be a pretty full on few months leading into the World Cup. Especially for me as a halfback, I need as much game [time] as possible, so I'll be hopefully pushing that with the coaches, and I know they're going to be wanting to support us where they can in terms of putting our best foot forward for selection for the Black Ferns."
