28 JACINDA WEARS BLACK FERNS SHIRT

After the horror show of 2016, New Zealand Rugby has been trying to embrace diversity and do what it can to promote women’s rugby and improve conditions and pay for leading female players.

While there is still a long road to travel, NZR has at least made progress and the decision to have a double header – Black Ferns/ All Blacks versus Australia – at Eden Park was further evidence women’s rugby is gaining the executive backing it deserves.

It was a powerful moment when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern presented captain Fi’ao Fa’aumausili with the Laurie O’Reilly trophy wearing a Black Ferns jersey.

It felt a little like, in a less dramatic way, that Ardern, was having her own Nelson Mandela 1995 moment.