Wales’ Hannah Jones wants to go to dark place in Rugby World Cup quarter-final
Whatever the outcome of Wales’s World Cup quarter-final against the Black Ferns on Saturday the fixture will be remembered as a significant one. It is not often a national union stands accused of forgetting it is hosting a global tournament, a direct clash with the men’s All Blacks Test in Japan having prompted a barrage of criticism across New Zealand.
Despite knowing since May last year the Black Ferns were likely to be involved in a major quarter-final in Whangarei, New Zealand Rugby somehow agreed for their men’s side to kick off at a similar time in Tokyo, forcing local viewers to choose which of their teams to watch live. For an organisation already under scrutiny after a number of perceived gaffes, it is another self-inflicted flesh wound.
The former Black Ferns international and ex-Labour MP Louisa Wall described the decision as “incredibly incompetent”, an accusation carrying extra sting after a problematic year for NZ Rugby on assorted fronts. A spokesman suggested it had been “a simple oversight”, but in the wider context of the women’s game’s desire for greater prominence it ranks as a sizeable PR own goal.
On the flip side it arguably reduces the pressure on Wales even further. As New Zealanders of both sexes clutch their heads in their hands, their next opponents believe they have at least a puncher’s chance of making everyone sit up and take notice. While a minor miracle will be required to knock out the defending world champions who beat them 56-12 less than a fortnight ago, Wales’s players are determined to give it their all.
Their mood is bluntly summed up by their captain and centre Hannah Jones, back in charge of a side showing four changes from their last pool outing, a 13-7 loss to Australia. “We were pretty disappointed after the Australian game,” said Jones, who also led the team in their opening fixture against Scotland. “Our performance let us down but we’ve parked that now. We’re prepared to go in with the mindset of emptying our tanks and giving it our best.
“We know Saturday is going to be a really intense, physical game but we also know we can take our minds and our bodies to a dark place. A massive amount will come down to mindset: work rate and how much we really want this.”
Motivation should not be difficult to summon, given this is Wales’s highest-profile global fixture since they reached the semi-finals way back in 1994. Jones knows her team will need to be more clinical but also wants them to display the necessary emotional fervour. “A lot of it comes down to why we play rugby and who are we doing it for. We need to play for that little girl who fell in love with the game and the coaches who have brought us up through the programme.
“For some of the girls this may be their last game because after a World Cup a lot of players either leave or retire. A lot is going to be driven by mindset and emotion.”
With Keira Bevan and Lowri Norkett making their first starts of the tournament at scrum-half and wing respectively, the pacy Jasmine Joyce has been shifted to full-back while Donna Rose and Carys Phillips return to the starting front row.
It will be tough but their coach, Ioan Cunningham, is urging his side to raise their game to another level. “We had some set-piece dominance in our pool game against them but we also created quite a few chances, many of which we didn’t convert,” she said.
“New Zealand have good athletes across the park and they keep the ball in hand so we’ve selected a back three who can cover a lot of ground and maintain a high level of physicality.
“We will be playing in front of a huge home crowd and we will need to feed off the atmosphere. To play New Zealand twice in a World Cup is 100% the experience you want to grow as a team. It’s only going to raise our standards short-term but also longer-term.”
Jones, reared in the Amman Valley and now playing for Gloucester Hartpury, is among those already benefiting from a full-time contract, having previously been a student PE teacher and worked shifts in her partner’s ice cream parlour. She now wants all her teammates to savour the looming challenge.
“The New Zealanders we’ve met here are really nice – until they do the haka on the field,” she said. “It’s a quarter-final and we know everyone’s going to be gunning for it. We’re prepared. All I have to say is ‘We’re in the quarterfinal, girls’ and you can see their faces light up. We’re the underdogs, we’ve got no pressure. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”