The Black Ferns beat Wales in their second pool game of the world cup. Photo / Photosport
The Black Ferns beat Wales in their second pool game of the world cup. Photo / Photosport
With World Cup heavyweights England and France meeting in the pool stages, there were plenty of people interested in how the match would play out, including the Black Ferns coaching staff.
England came into the tournament as short-priced favourites with the bookies to be the last team standing, however, theystruggled to penetrate the French defence in a match when they dominated possession and territory.
Defence was the key talking point from France's performance. They barely fired a shot with ball in hand; their lone try coming from a piece of magic from first-five Caroline Drouin to ignite the play. However, they never gave England too much room to work on and were up to the challenge of the physical English pack.
England claimed a 13-7 win in Whangārei on Saturday, but there was a lot to like for French supporters after losing two key players inside 20 minutes.
A fantastic test match, Black Ferns assistant coach Whitney Hansen said it was also an informative one.
"It probably just showed the different style of rugby they're trying to play to what we are," Hansen said.
"I think the best article I read about it was you can either look at that and see that France's defence was something pretty special, and I think we did that. The other side to look at that is England are beatable, and I think teams will be looking at that and think that now too."
The Black Ferns beat Wales in their second pool game of the world cup. Photo / Photosport
While the test provided indications that there might be a few chinks in the English and French armour, the Black Ferns now have to tidy up their own game if they're going to be able to exploit those should they meet in the knockout stages.
The New Zealand side and England have both qualified for the quarter-finals, alongside Canada, though it remains to be seen just how the quarter-final draw shapes out as teams receive a seeding from one to eight based on their performances in pool play.
While the Black Ferns currently sit atop that seeding chart heading into their final pool game against Scotland in Whangārei on Saturday, Sunday afternoon's 56-12 win over Wales showed they still have plenty to clean up in the weeks ahead, including being on the wrong end of a 17-8 penalty count and having 13 turnovers lost in their own half.
"There's a piece there around our decision-making, that's quite huge, and sometimes fatigue can come in and play a part in that, but I don't think that was the case. I think we just made too many silly choices. We can be better than that," Hansen said.
"We're always hunting for performance, and I think we got a step closer to that. But, again, there's a wee way to go. Happy with the places we did that in; our defence was better, our attack was pretty special at times, but we've just got to work on those other areas."
