Give us more games, say Ferns

Try-scoring lock Victoria Heighway has lent her voice to the chorus of concern over the Black Ferns' playing schedule, saying more games were needed if the World Cup success was to continue.

The triumphant three-times winners were afforded a heroes' welcome when they arrived back at Auckland Airport yesterday morning, following their hard-fought 25-17 win over England in the final at Edmonton.

Concern has already been expressed about the inadequacies of the Black Ferns' programme, particularly after a semi-professional England outfit demonstrated a marked improvement at this year's tournament.

While England have now returned home to begin preparations for the Six Nations series, the New Zealand women's team will spend the best part of the next year apart, with little to look forward to on the playing front.

Heighway, who followed up a try in the semifinal with a critical try in the tournament showpiece, said although the Black Ferns had now won their third World Cup, there were worrying signs ahead in terms of growth and development.

"The gap is closing," she said yesterday. "There's a lot more funding going into women's rugby throughout the world and hopefully that will continue to happen and we'll get some really close competition.

"But in terms of our own game we need to come up with a more intensive playing schedule if we want to build on what we've already achieved, and keep improving.

"The other teams are catching up quickly because they're playing more rugby. Some of the English players have, in two years, won as many caps as Anna Richards [in all Ferns World Cup winning teams] has in her entire career."

Although it was a rugged final, matching the lightweight and mobile New Zealand team against a bigger and set-piece obsessed England, Heighway said she believed the Black Ferns had the correct formula for success in terms of their style.

She said the only thing missing now was a complimentary playing programme.

"The opposition might be getting bigger but we're probably getting a bit smaller and that's fine by us," she said.

"We just want our entire squad of 22 to be mobile and fast - that's the style of rugby we want to play."

Coach Jed Rowlands echoed Heighway's comments yesterday, saying it was imperative for the health of the sport that New Zealand develop an intensive playing programme, as well as age-group teams such as Under 17s and Under 19s.

"Other teams are going to get closer to us because of our lack of top-class competition," said Rowlands.

"Women's rugby needs the Black Ferns to play in New Zealand; it's important to try and maintain the momentum and grow the sport.

"It would be frustrating if, having achieved so much over the past few weeks, we couldn't take advantage of it."

Rowlands rated the World Cup victory as the highlight of his coaching career, and certainly a welcome contrast to those dark times in the 1999 Super 12 season, when he struggled at the helm of the Blues.

He even said he was interested in the idea of having another crack at elite men's rugby.

"There's a chance of me considering getting back into it. But it's a fickle game and whether there'd be any jobs out there for me, I don't know.

"I've enjoyed coaching the Black Ferns, and it would be nice to build on that, but who knows what might be around the corner."

Rowlands said while the 1999 experience was a hard one for him, he wasn't carrying any deep psychological scars as a result, and hadn't turned his back on coaching men's teams.