Black Ferns v Wallaroos: What to expect from Allan Bunting’s side in first test of the year in Brisbane

Allan Bunting will bring his own brand of rugby to the Black Ferns, but when they take to the field against the Wallaroos on Thursday, there will be a familiar look to how the side plays.

“We talk about our DNA and I think it’s in our soul here; we weren’t born with shields, we were born with weapons,” Bunting said. “We really expect to see that; we were born to attack.”

The New Zealand DNA was often mentioned by Sir Wayne Smith when discussing the freedom the national side were encouraged to display on attack during his tenure at the helm. It was a real point of difference for the side, and one that will continue in the Bunting era.

That style of play has provided the foundation for the players selected in the squad for the Pacific Four and Laurie O’Reilly Cup tests, with the former acting as the qualifier for the newly instated WXV1 tournament at the end of the year.

It’s a brand of rugby that will be familiar to Bunting, to an extent, after a long and decorated career leading the Black Ferns Sevens before a title-winning season at the helm of Chiefs Manawa in the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki competition.

But Bunting is hoping to build on that foundation, with the 2023 season seen as an opportunity to build depth with an eye to 2025.

Black Ferns Director of Rugby Allan Bunting. Photo / Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.co.nz

This weekend, six of the nine uncapped players in the squad are set to make their debut; loosehead prop Kate Henwood, and wings Katelyn Vahaakolo and Mererangi Paul in the run-on side, with Iritana Hohaia, Rosie Kelly and Tenika Willison named on the bench.

Thursday night’s test against Australia in Brisbane doubles as the first test in each of the Pacific Four and Laurie O’Reilly Cup competitions, before the side travels north for tests against Canada and the United States to complete the Pacific Four tournament.

Their first test at home will be the second of the Laurie O’Reilly Cup tests, in Hamilton in late September.

The Black Ferns need to finish in the top three of the Pacific Four tournament to book their spot in the end-of-year WXV 1 tournament, where the top three Pacific Four teams meet England, France and Wales – the top three teams from the Six Nations – in Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland.

“We’re not in the end-of-the-year games yet, we’ve got to get there first,” Bunting said. “We’ve got full faith in the people that we have selected here; it doesn’t really matter for us who we put out on the field, but we have been quite strategic around our selections, and certainly all our players will get game time.

“The most important thing is, we have some exciting talent and we have to give them experience at [the] test level. We need to grow confidence, building [their] faith and trust in each other, and making sure we have a good group of ladies with test experience, then hopefully we get through to the end of the year with some really good experience against the Northern Hemisphere, which would be great. When we represent our country, we want to be successful too.”

Black Ferns v Wallaroos

Thursday 9pm, Dolphin Stadium, Brisbane.

Black Ferns: Renee Holmes, Mererangi Paul, Amy du Plessis, Sylvia Brunt, Katelyn Vahaakolo, Ruahei Demant, Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Kennedy Simon, Alana Bremner, Chelsea Bremner, Maiakawanakaulani Roos, Tanya Kalounivale, Georgia Ponsonby, Kate Henwood.

Reserves: Luka Connor, Krystal Murray, Amy Rule, Joanah Ngan Woo, Kendra Reynolds, Iritana Hohaia, Rosie Kelly, Tenika Willison.