Crowd sweats on Ferns comeback
England showed why they are the cup favourites while the Black Ferns’ early wobble against Australia was a worry.
It’s still advantage England after the first day of the Rugby World Cup, where the Black Ferns had to dig deep to avoid early embarrassment.
The best three teams in women’s international rugby graced the Eden Park pitch yesterday, putting on the kind of triple-header rarely seen in world sport – with a mini Rita Ora concert thrown in for good measure.
First there were France, who started strong and finished hot either side of a 50-minute stretch where they were kept pointless in a 40-5 win over South Africa.
Then there were England, who scored 60 second-half points to beat a spirited Fiji – playing just their seventh test – 84-19.
Finally there were the Black Ferns, who beat Australia’s Wallaroos for the 23rd time in 23 meetings on the back of a hattrick from wing Portia Woodman, but not before giving the sell-out crowd in Auckland an almighty scare.
After conceding three firsthalf tries they were behind 17-0 and staring down the barrel of a historic defeat and a nightmare start.
Instead, they gave the historymaking audience – the largest for a women’s rugby match, as well as the largest for a standalone women’s sport event in New Zealand – a comeback for the ages.
But while a comeback win can be thrilling – and this one certainly was – no sports team wants to be in that position in the first place.
There were mistakes from the Black Ferns everywhere you looked in the first half and the Wallaroos certainly took advantage of them.
When New Zealand did manage to get on the front foot, you could see that they posed quite a threat.
Lock Joanah Ngan-Woo, their talisman in 2022, got them up and running then Woodman closed the gap and drew them level, scoring either side of the halftime break.
Two yellow cards to the Wallaroos in the same passage of play gave the Black Ferns a leg up. They duly took the lead through reserve prop Awhina Tangen-Wainohu and once Woodman completed her hattrick, they didn’t look back on their way to a 41-17 win.
But at some stage this week they will, and it will be the most important video review session they’ve had since coach Wayne Smith took charge this year.
Next up are Wales, next Sunday at Waita¯ kere Stadium, where the crowd will be a fraction of the size of yesterday’s at Eden Park. Perhaps that will help them settle in.
Then come Scotland, the following Saturday at Northland Events Centre in Whanga¯ rei, a match where they’ll be chasing a top-two seed heading into the quarterfinals.
Neither Wales nor Scotland should push the Black Ferns the way the Wallaroos did in their opener – should being the key word – but the tournament hosts will have to be better as they head towards the knockout stages and potential showdowns with England and France.
Those two teams will have the luxury of a head-to-head meeting next Saturday in Whanga¯ rei to prime themselves for the business end of the tournament.
It’s game on, as far as the Rugby World Cup is concerned – but there’s plenty to work on, from the Black Ferns’ point of view.