Upswing in rollercoaster ride

‘‘I knew [I had to] come in here with a new energy and a new excitement. I have to learn a lot. There’s been a lot I’ve had to know over the last couple of days and then there’s the test match this weekend.

‘‘So I’ve moved on pretty quickly and we’ve got something else to focus on.’’

Being part of a Black Ferns team that wins the World Cup, would be a positive end to a gruelling season that Hirini has been a part of.

‘‘Right from the get go I wanted to play in three pinnacle events this year, two with sevens and this one,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s a special time for women’s rugby. There will never again be three pinnacle events in one year – well, hopefully not, anyway.’’

‘‘I suppose I’m still a little disappointed with the last two, so I’m not going to try to overdo it here and enjoy this one and enjoy playing at home.’’

Given how much progress is being made with women’s rugby in becoming a professional sport, Hirini, Woodman and Fluhler could be among the last players who are able to swap between the two forms of the game so quickly.

In future, it won’t be so easy to go from playing at the top level of sevens straight into 15s and vice verse, because the standards continue to rise.

‘‘Both programmes are fully professional. This team will play eight to nine test matches a year, the sevens team will play eight to nine world series tournaments,’’ Hirini said.

‘‘So it will become more difficult and I’m grateful I was in an era where I could play both and transition back and forth.

‘‘Still, both programmes can utilise each other’s athletes.

‘‘You can continue to do that whether you’re playing or not, bringing them in to train builds the athletes up.

‘‘We want that in New Zealand, we want the best women’s rugby players that you can offer for both programmes.’’