What continues to astonish with the Ferns is how they’ve managed to take an effervescent attitude onto the field, which fits perfectly with the expansive style encouraged by Wayne Smith and the coaching group.
It’s not big a step to see the semifinal with France as a contest between one team armed with rapiers and the other with bludgeons. The comforting thought for Kiwi fans is that, if the need arises, players like Sarah Hirini, the Bremner sisters and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u won’t back away from an arm wrestle.
Weak links
The success of the Cup has basically protected one dangerously poor area, the refereeing. Casual attitudes to the breakdown by the refs are irritating, but the decision to not red card Welsh player Carys Williams-Morris for a scary tip tackle on Ruby Tui last weekend was scandalous. In the cauldron of the semifinals the referees need to show a lot more concern for player welfare.
No degrees of separation
The warmth the rugby public is feeling towards the Black Ferns echoes the affection fans felt for the All Blacks at the World Cup here in 1987.
Somehow it’s easier to feel a connection to people like the Ferns, who know what it’s like to work in schools, shops, or on farms. So it was with the amateur All Blacks heroes of ‘87.
On the Monday after the Cup had been won in ‘87, wing Craig Green was shivering in a bitter Christchurch southerly as he hammered nails into a roof in Linwood, back to his job as a carpenter. Flanker AJ Whetton was zipping around Auckland in his courier truck delivering parcels. Whetton then zipped around town again on Tuesday picking most of them up, because, in his post-victory haze, he’d delivered them to the wrong places.
Now we’re talking
With all due respect to a very good Japan side, nobody would seriously suggest the team the All Blacks fielded last week was a first-choice line-up.
On the other hand, for the Welsh test in Cardiff, there’s likely more solidity up front, and the potential for breaking defensive lines in the backs.
The biggest call is the return of Jordie Barrett to the midfield. Concerns coach Ian Foster had earlier in the year about Barrett’s upright running style have been allayed. If Barrett can stretch the Welsh midfield enough to set Caleb Clarke and Sevu Reece loose out wide, a dynamic we’ve been missing since Ma’a Nonu left the scene could return.
Is that the last-chance saloon?
The selection see-saw at first-five has tilted heavily towards Richie Mo’unga over Beauden Barrett this year, with Mo’unga starting the last six tests. After a pedestrian team effort against Japan, where Mo’unga struggled to spark the backline, the need to play Beauden Barrett at fullback may have been what stopped the return of Barrett to first-five for the Welsh test.
Or maybe the fact that if there’s one player who suffers when a side is being matched or bettered at the breakdowns it’s the first-five meant Mo’unga would have started in Cardiff regardless. Mo’unga’s a much better player than he looked in Tokyo. If the All Blacks get a roll on he can prove the point against Wales.
They know the feeling in Dunedin
One thing you can guarantee about the Welsh test: Conditions will be perfect. I’ve always loved, and felt privileged, to be reporting on tests at Twickenham. But the huge beauty of the Cardiff stadium is that no matter how wet, grey, or windy the day, the roof means the ground and the ball will be dry. Add in the singing of the crowd, and it’s my favourite northern stadium.
