We were welcoming co-hosts and enthusiastic supporters of the Fifa Women’s World Cup. Kiwis revelled in having a ringside seat at one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar, a highly competitive yet festive celebration of women’s sport.
The All Blacks, our sporting flagship, made the final of the Men’s Rugby World Cup, whereupon Murphy’s Law kicked in. Given the media and public scepticism, bordering on scorn, that swirled around the coach and team throughout the four-year build-up, falling a conversion short could be seen as a pretty good outcome.
After a decade of mediocrity, the New Zealand Warriors enjoyed a spectacular renaissance to finish fourth on the NRL table. The Kiwis then iced the league community’s cake by thumping the Kangaroos 30-0 in Hamilton, inflicting Australia’s biggest ever loss.
After only two seasons together, kayakers Olivia Brett, Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin and Tara Vaughan became the first K4 team from the Southern Hemisphere to win a world championship.
Cyclists Aaron Gate (points race) and Ellesse Andrews (keirin) won gold at the World Track Championships in August, where New Zealand finished fifth overall.
A number of individuals shone on the world stage. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott continued her snowboarding dominance with wins at the Winter X games and Big Air World Cup and silver at the FIS Snowboard World Championships; skier Alice Robinson came second by a whisker in the giant slalom at the most recent FIS World Cup event. Golfer Lydia Ko slipped from the lofty heights of 2022 when she regained world No 1 ranking, but Steven Alker and Ryan Fox were again standouts on the Champions Tour and European Tour respectively. Squash player Paul Coll won the US and Hong Kong Opens and boxers Lani Daniels and Mea Motu won world titles.
But high expectations are a double-edged sword. After the Black Ferns’ memorable 2022 World Cup triumph, we looked forward to more of the same in the new WXV series. Despite home advantage, however, they lost narrowly to France and decisively to England. The Black Ferns Sevens’ year-long, 41-match winning streak was ended by Australia in Dubai.
Finalists in 2015 and 2019, the Black Caps made the semifinals of the ODI Cricket World Cup in India, only to be swatted aside by the extravagantly talented host nation. It was a similar story for the White Ferns at the Women’s T20 World Cup. The trend lines suggest a golden era in New Zealand cricket is drawing to what could be a messy close.
In keeping with Kiwi rugby league’s apparent compulsion to self-sabotage, the sequel to the famous win over the Kangaroos was the departure of coach Michael Maguire. Maguire had wanted to continue with the Kiwis while also coaching New South Wales in the State of Origin, on the face of it a workable arrangement. The New Zealand Rugby League board didn’t see it that way.
While there was feel-good a-plenty at the Women’s Football World Cup, there was also deflation. Deep-down even the romantics and football tragics realised the Football Ferns had precisely zero chance of winning the tournament, but there was reason to hope they’d make it through to the second round. Cautious optimism became exuberant confidence after the Ferns upset Norway in front of 43,217 spectators at Eden Park in the tournament opener – this country’s first World Cup win in 23 attempts. A draw against the lowly Philippines would have put the Ferns through. Alas, they were unable to procure the single goal they needed against opponents who conceded eight goals in their two other pool games.
The All Blacks’ quarter-final victory over recent nemesis Ireland saved their World Cup and coach Ian Foster’s reputation. It was also one of the three most compelling contests of the year: the others were the mesmerising men’s Wimbledon singles final between seven times champion Novak Djokovic and 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz that ended in the former’s first loss on centre court in a decade, and the Australia-France women’s football quarter-final that ended in an epic penalty shoot-out, won 7-6 by the Matildas.
Dire spectacle
The RWC final against the Springboks, however, was a dire spectacle, albeit yet another dramatic and controversial chapter in rugby’s greatest rivalry. Compared to the aftermath, though, the match itself was a thing of beauty. While the final did highlight problems with the way the game is officiated, the subsequent focus on those problems was overdone, selective, occasionally hysterical, and inevitably included an eruption of social media vileness.
The referee Wayne Barnes and television match official Tom Foley have since retired – altogether in Barnes’ case; from international duty in Foley’s – citing online abuse to the point of death threats and wishing their families dead. Given the All Blacks lost by a point after having skipper Sam Cane red-carded and a try questionably disallowed, it doesn’t seem unduly kneejerk to assume New Zealanders spewed at least some of this vitriol. It would surely be delusional to think it all came from the supposed million or so non-Kiwi All Black fans scattered around the globe whom New Zealand Rugby’s US commercial partner, Silver Lake, believes not only exist but are itching to enrich both parties.
NZR must hope that the appointment of Scott Robertson to succeed Foster kills two birds with one stone: makes the All Blacks great again and changes the optics and atmospherics around the team and the men’s game generally. Overall, the philosophy and practice of continuity have served New Zealand rugby well these past 20 years, but familiarity has bred fan disengagement and dimmed the aura. It’s a heavy burden to place on one man’s shoulders even when the shoulders in question belong to a former All Blacks loose forward. While Robertson oozes optimism and self-confidence, he will be under no illusions: only keyboard warriors think coaching the All Blacks is an easy gig.
