Wayne Smith had been focused on installing a new style of play with the Black Ferns. Photo / photosport.nz
Wayne Smith had been focused on installing a new style of play with the Black Ferns. Photo / photosport.nz
There is one thing Wayne Smith wants to see from the Black Ferns as they begin a new era tomorrow - "lots of mistakes".
Smith will be overseeing the side for first time when they take on Australia in Tauranga tomorrow afternoon, their first match on home soil in threeyears.
The game will open the Pacific Four Series - also featuring the United States and Canada - and kick off the Black Ferns' preparations for this year's home World Cup.
It will also mark the start of a new cycle for the team, the previous having ended in acrimony, and Smith hopes with it will come a new style of "exhilarating rugby".
That style has been welcomed by the players - veteran Kendra Cocksedge said the Black Ferns were in the past too over-structured - and it's one that will take some time to develop.
That directive has excited a squad featuring a number of new faces, with seven debutants named to take on Australia.
Cocksedge, who will play her 58th test to become the Black Ferns' most-capped player, has been particularly impressed with the approach installed by a new coaching group headlined by Smith and Graham Henry.
After a dismal northern tour was followed by cultural concerns and a review that led to the resignation of previous coach Glenn Moore, Cocksedge was eager for a fresh start.
"We flushed all of that last year - we're in a new year, we've got new focuses, got a new coaching group, a new bunch of girls, and it's important for us to move forward from that," the halfback said.
"We're playing a different style of footy and the culture off the field is connecting really well - the end-of-year tour and what we've gone through is put on the back now.
"The style of rugby that we're trying to play is really exciting. I think in the past we were probably a little bit over-structured, so Smithy's giving us that freedom to be able to be quick and expansive."
Kendra Cocksedge is set to become the Black Ferns' most-capped player. Photo / photosport.nz
Smith indicated that quickness was the key - the ability of a player to complete a scrum and rapidly reach the next phase. It was an area in which he felt the Black Ferns had fallen behind teams like England and France, leaving fitness a focus during his six weeks in charge.
"We've been working a lot on fitness and getting from A to B quicker," Smith said. "I think we'll be better at that. You'll see some exceptional women who have changed their fitness level. But it's a matter of showing that in a game."
That desire for peak fitness was one reason Smith opted to omit some veterans, with captain Les Elder recovering from injury and replaced by first five-eighth Ruahei Demant. Those left out were still firmly in the World Cup frame, Smith said, and now had four months to earn back their place.
"Some players who have been greats of the game - and could be greats of the game again - have got injuries or are coming back from injuries.
"For me, selection is always about you selecting yourself - I don't select you. You put your form on the track, and if it's better than the other ladies you get selected."
