Ferns star slams cup schedule
Black Ferns star Portia Woodman has hit out at the Women’s Rugby World Cup scheduling that sees her team playing the final just four days after dispatching the United States.
New Zealand take on England in the title match in Belfast on Sunday (NZ time). That comes after the two teams won tough semifinals over the United States and France on Wednesday.
Tryscoring machine Woodman doubts her male counterparts would cope with a tournament schedule that the women have had to deal with.
‘‘I’d like to see the men do a tournament like this. They probably wouldn’t handle this as well as we do,’’ Woodman told Pundit Arena.
‘‘If possible it would be nice to have a few more days on the end just to get some quality rugby, to get some good recovery days in.’’
When the All Blacks won the 2015 World Cup in England they got a full week between their semifinal and final. Their opponents Australia had six days after playing their semifinal a day later than the All Blacks.
The Black Ferns got three days between playing their opener against Wales and their second game against Hong Kong. They had four days between their fol- lowing match against Canada and a six-day break for their semifinal.
Woodman, who has been the star of the event with 13 tries in four matches, said their would be no time for any social activities as they concentrated on their rehab and plans to beat England.
‘‘A lot of the next couple of days is going to be around recovery because it’s such a short turnaround,’’ Woodman said.
‘‘A lot of it is going to be about legs up, compressions on, iced knees ... everything you need to do just to get your body right. So I don’t know if many people are going to get out and about.’’
Woodman felt the Ferns still had improvement in them as they looked to win the final against defending champions England.
She felt they had lifted their game since playing England in New Zealand in June when the Black Ferns lost 29-21.
‘‘We’ve stepped it up. Because we have had such a long time together now, we have been able to work on the things we probably didn’t get to in that last June series,’’ she said.
‘‘But we are still not peaking yet, we’ve still got a lot to work on heading into this final.’’
Woodman said their was huge motivation in the team to win the final and she felt clarity on the day would be crucial to their chances of achieving that.
England’s veteran fullback Danielle Waterman has been ruled out of the final match with concussion. She left the field during the first half of England’s semifinal victory over France for a head injury assessment and did not return.