Goss shines all around rugby world
2017 was a huge year for Sarah Goss and women’s rugby in New Zealand, reports Marc Hinton.
AT a time when women’s rugby is riding the crest of a wave in New Zealand, Sarah Goss might just be the perfect role model for the new generation of aspiring Black Ferns. She is certainly a willing participant.
Goss is a fabulous athlete and wonderfully committed rugby player, and appreciates fully what a privileged position she occupies as someone paid to play the game they love. She is also fully invested in that status as an inspiration for the fast-growing new wave of empowered young women coming through in her sport.
‘‘You have to be,’’ she says nonchalantly when the Sunday News catches up with her just before a pre-Christmas dash to Edinburgh to spend some time with fiance Conor Hirini. ‘‘As soon as you put a black jersey on you’re expected to be a role model. That’s something our team has hugely embraced. We want to create a legacy where people want to play for our team and we want to keep inspiring young kids to not just play rugby, but be active and learn social skills, and sport is big part of that.
‘‘We are role models, there’s no doubt about that, and not just in New Zealand but around the world, and that’s hugely exciting for women rugby players that we can have an impact on the young generation.’’
Goss is certainly playing her part. What a year the 25-year-old Tauranga-based, Feilding-raised loose forward has had. She was an integral part of the New Zealand sevens side that bounced back from their Rio disappointment (yes, silver can be a letdown when you aim for the stars like these women do) by winning the world series in emphatic fashion, winning four of the five tournaments, and restoring their dominance over great rivals Australia.
She then followed that up by stepping into the Blacks Ferns XVs team for the World Cup in Ireland and started every match as Glenn Moore’s team swept to their fifth title in resounding style.
But the accolades did not stop there for Goss, or her teams. She followed up being named best female athlete in Oceania at the Association of National Olympic Committees awards in Prague by lifting the gong for women’s player-of-the-year at the NZ Rugby Awards.
The Black Ferns were also named both World Rugby’s team of the year and, for the first time, New Zealand’s. At a time when the women’s game is providing the largest growth in the sport in this country, these are significant times for the distaff side of the national game.
‘‘To come back and win the sevens world series was hugely exciting,’’ reflects Goss, who lists Black Ferns legend Farah Palmer and school coach Rob Jones as her chief inspirations. ‘‘Then to be given the opportunity to represent the Black Ferns XVs at the World Cup was a childhood dream come true, and made it even sweeter to bring it home.’’
And the NZ Rugby awards, which turned into a celebration of the women’s game?
‘‘It was really special . . . it was the first time we’d all been back together and to celebrate again with the girls, and just enjoy a massive night for women’s rugby, is something we’ll all remember for a long time.’’
Goss appreciates these are pivotal times for the women’s game, not just with the recognition (which some consider long overdue), but with discussions in full swing around potential contracting of XVs’ players and new competitions.
But you won’t find Goss complaining about the lot the women’s players have. ‘‘The more we keep winning on the world stage, the more recognition we’ll get,’’ she says.
It’s a refreshing perspective, and extends to her thoughts on living in the shadow of the mighty All Blacks.
‘‘We don’t feel like we live in their shadow,’’ she adds. ‘‘They lead the way for us and when they’re successful we get a lot of benefit as well. They’re such a massive brand around the world it’s cool to be alongside that.’’
The sevens success in 2017 was especially satisfying for Goss and her ‘‘sisters’’ who put so much into Rio, only to come up short.
‘‘We’d kinda lost our way, and the Rio disappointment made us question what we were doing individually and as a team, and we were able to strip it right back and start from the beginning, get our culture right, then put everything into just being a good athlete.’’
The XVs World Cup sprung from similar seeds of disappointment, after the Black Ferns had seen their reign ended in 2014 with a pool defeat to Ireland, and then England emerge as the game’s pre-eminent force.
‘‘Some of those girls had lost in 2014 to Ireland and had a point to prove, and some of us had lost to England in that June series. That was probably the best thing that happened to us, as we were able to look at what we were doing wrong and how we could improve.
‘‘As the World Cup went on there was a lot of stuff in the media about England, their pay packets and why they so good. We were able to slip under the radar until that final and bring it out when we needed it.’’
In 2018 Goss will switch back into fulltime sevens mode with the defence of their series crown (after starting with a shock quarterfinal exit in Dubai), the Commonwealth Games and then a World Cup in San Francisco.
She is aware of work going on ‘‘behind the scenes’’ around XVs’ opportunities, but expects to be fully committed to the abbreviated game through until at least 2020.
Which means plenty more travel and a continuation of what she calls ‘‘a love-hate relationship’’.
‘‘I love being able to see the world, but you get tired of airports, planes, buses and hotels’’.
Not that she ever takes what she does for granted.
‘‘I pinch myself every day that I’m paid to train, travel the world, hang out with my mates and do some pretty special things.
‘‘I know I’m very lucky.’’
We are role models, there’s no doubt about that.’