Ferns star ruled out of final
The Black Ferns suffered their first significant injury blow of the Rugby World Cup after powerful No 8 Liana Mikaele-Tu’u was ruled out of Saturday’s final against England with a thumb injury.
Assistant coach Wes Clarke confirmed yesterday that the 20-year-old would miss the Eden Park decider after coming off at halftime in their semifinal win over France on Saturday.
‘‘She’s gutted,’’ Clarke said yesterday. ‘‘You would be. She’s been a big part of our team so far. She’s a special human. I’m sure she’ll add stuff off the field. Even though she’s only a young player herself, she’s really good at teaching the other players.’’
The Black Ferns had avoided any major injuries in the tournament until now.
The Auckland loose forward started all but one of their five World Cup matches – she missed their pool win over Wales with sprained ribs – after only making her test debut on last year’s northern tour.
The Hastings-born No 8 coped with the physicality of the powerful English and French sides, despite the Black Ferns losing all four matches, and has since played 11 tests.
She missed the August tests against Australia with a knee injury but was straight into the starting XV for their World Cup
opener against the Wallaroos at Eden Park on October 8.
Black Ferns loose forward Sarah Hirini said they were gutted for Mikaele-Tu’u, an excellent defender who has been brilliant with her strong carries throughout the tournament.
The Black Ferns will miss Mikaele-Tu’u’s presence, although
her absence means co-captain Kennedy Simon is the likely starter at No 8 after coming off the bench in their respective quarterfinal and semifinal victories over Wales and France.
It would be Simon’s first start of the World Cup after recovering from a muscle injury down the back of her leg (plantaris).
Their other options are experienced No 8 Charmaine McMenamin, a 2017 World Cup winner, and openside flanker Kendra Reynolds.
McMenamin started their opening pool matches against Australia and Wales after her remarkable recovery from spinal surgery last October.
The Black Ferns will name their team tomorrow for their fifth World Cup final against England.
The reigning world champions won the previous four in 2002, 2006, 2010 and the last decider in Belfast 2017.
England are favourites this weekend after winning a record 30 tests on the bounce since 2019, but they also have injury concerns.
Star fullback Helena Rowland is doubtful because of a leg injury suffered in the semifinal, as is prop Hannah Botterman, who was a late withdrawal before they beat Canada because of a knee injury.
England smashed the Black Ferns twice on last year’s northern tour (43-12 and 56-15) and are the world No 1 team.
Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith said they were underdogs for the final after England’s formidable form.
England, however, did not breeze into the final, as was expected, and scraped through with their nervous 26-19 semifinal win against Canada.
The Black Ferns also hung on for their 25-24 win over France in last Saturday’s second semifinal to reach their sixth World Cup decider.
The world was whispering. Some were even saying it out loud. The All Blacks had lost their aura. The mighty pine tree had fallen and there were only saplings left in the forest. The fear factor had gone. One of the great teams in sport was fading. The men in black were turning grey.
Yes, some of that was and is true. But many people said the same of Brazil’s iconic football team. They said the magic was gone forever after they were humiliated 7-1 by Germany at the 2014 World Cup. But it wasn’t so, just as it isn’t so for the All Blacks. A reputation that has been created for over 100 years cannot be destroyed in a couple of years.
However hard you try, you can’t just trash an aura overnight.
The cynics might raise an eyebrow and say that New Zealand has pushed that theory to its limits over in recent times. They have made mistake after mistake at administrative, coaching and playing level since the Lions tour of 2017. But despite all of that chaos, the All Blacks can still summon the force. It’s an almost mystical thing. There is still mana in those black shirts.
Mark Jones, the former Wales wing who had a spell coaching at the Crusaders, thought before the game at the weekend: ‘‘This is really a great opportunity for Wales to record that elusive win against the All Blacks. New Zealand’s recent form over the last 12-18 months has given a lot of teams that sense that perhaps their aura is flickering a little bit. Teams are not necessarily beaten before they take the field as perhaps we’ve seen in recent years.’’
Jones was far from alone in that assessment. Former All Black and current Japan coach Jamie Joseph said: ‘‘Everyone is thinking about the All Blacks and that’s part of their armour. Having played for the All Blacks, one of the things we used to talk about 25 years ago was that everyone was a wee bit scared of us. Perhaps that’s not the case any more, I’m not sure.’’
Michael Leitch, of the Chiefs and Japan, added: ‘‘In the past, teams have come up against the All Blacks and psychologically you think they are unbeatable but now those cracks are showing.’’
These are two New Zealanders who are thinking the unthinkable, so it is no surprise that others are picking up on it. Did Pablo Matera find a bunch of supermen in his time at the Crusaders or did he discover he was the best forward on the pitch?
When Warren Gatland had a coffee with Felipe Contepomi, the Argentina assistant coach told
him, with feedback from Matera, that the All Blacks were now a team ‘‘playing catchup’’, having previously been six months ahead of everyone else.
Now I don’t think those observations are by any means untrue, but however hard you try, you can’t just trash an aura overnight. Look at Tiger Woods. He crashed his aura into a fire hydrant and into a tree. He has popped pill after pill and he had been left by his wife after lurid details of his sex life came out. And yet he walks onto a golf course and, as if by magic, the aura is still there – even now, even after all the ravages and disgraces.
Formula One driver Carlos Sainz said: ‘‘It is the aura Tiger has around him, the charisma. Even now, you can just see he creates something around him every time he walks around a golf course that no-one can explain, and everyone wants him to win. After all the polemics he has been through, 99 per cent of people still want Tiger to win. Tell me an athlete that has this aura. No one.
‘‘For me, it’s a case study, because it’s something superinteresting how someone can create so much charisma that everyone wants you to win, even if you’ve made a lot of mistakes.’’
And so it is with the All Blacks. They crushed Wales just as they have for the previous 70 years. ‘‘Efficiency’’ was coach Ian Foster’s treasured word afterward. It might just as well have been ‘‘ruthless.’’ The All
Blacks forwards dominated the advantage line.
It was significant that Scott Barrett and Dalton Papalii were both back in the pack. It was Barrett’s back-up motor that drove Codie Taylor over the line twice. And Papalii’s power is a huge asset in the scrummage, in the maul and on the gain line. Sam Cane couldn’t have made Papalii’s marauding run that awakened the beast.
Is this, then, the end for captain Cane? It has to be, because another part of the All Blacks’ aura is that they have nearly always had icons as captains. Sam Whitelock is an icon. Sam Cane has been a fine player, but he is not an icon. It really is as simple as that
The reassertion of the All Blacks could not have come at a better time because surely it must help the Black Ferns this weekend.
‘This is Anfield’ is the chilling message to visitors as they walk out onto Liverpool’s revered home turf. ‘This is Eden Park’ could hang above the tunnel as teams walk out onto the All Blacks’ sacred home ground, where they have not lost since 1994.
That mana must surely help the Black Ferns in the final of the women’s World Cup against England. Wayne Smith’s women were mighty fortunate to beat France in the semifinal and not just because Caroline Drouin, the French 10, missed a simple enough kick to win the match.
No, they were fortunate because the referee somehow found seven consecutive momentum-changing penalties to award them at the start of the second half. It was a nonsense, but it’s the sort of nonsense that happens when teams have built an aura and a legacy at a stadium.
Ruahei Demant said of the Eden Park crowd after the match: ‘‘Man, I don’t think people realise how much it actually makes a difference to us out there on the field. To know our families, our country, are supporting us, are proud of us.’’
Yes, the Ferns will have to start better in the final, a recurring problem against the better teams. Yes, they will have to sort out the terrible frailty around the pick and go where France snaffled so many turnovers. Yes, they will have to kick much better, because France turned bad kicks from Kendra Cocksedge and Renee Holmes into points, and England will do the same.
But at least the Black Ferns have a 10-point start. It’s called Eden Park.
It’s called aura.