Renaissance of the Black Ferns: The inside story
Earlier this year, grim-faced rugby bosses fronted media to deliver the findings of a brutal review into the Black Ferns culture and environment that included allegations of bullying. Today, the team plays England in a World Cup final in front of a soldout Eden Park. Dana Johannsen charts their resurrection.
Scattered across the field at Stade Pierre-Fabre in Castres, France, the Black Ferns were a picture of disarray.
Some sat on their haunches, heads down, others looked to the sky in silent bewilderment, while others consoled team-mates as they absorbed the sting of their 29-7 defeat to France to round out a disastrous northern tour.
After more than two years away from test rugby, largely due to Covid disruptions, the tour was to prove a crucial yardstick for where the team was at just 11 months out from a home World Cup. They returned home certain of one thing: they were no longer the world’s best in the women’s game, and nowhere near the level of the European heavyweights.
They were humiliated by England and battered by France, conceding 25 tries across the four games as they racked up the four heaviest losses in their history. ‘‘Shellshocked’’ was the word that came to define the tour.
There were more jolts to come. Upon the team’s return to New Zealand, Black Ferns hooker Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate revealed on social media she had a mental breakdown on the tour – a flashpoint years in the making. In her
emotional post, Ngata-Aerengamate described in detail how bit by bit, her mana had been stripped away through years of allegedly being criticised, diminished, and made to feel by team management that she did not offer any value on the field.
Already under pressure to properly interrogate the reasons behind the Black Ferns capitulation in Europe, Ngata-Aerengamate’s allegations and the resultant publicity forced rugby bosses to commission an independent review into the team’s culture and environment.
The stark findings, delivered 179 days out from the opening match of the Rugby World Cup, revealed the Black Ferns not only had competitive issues to address, but significant cultural and structural problems.
Six days later, head coach Glenn Moore announced he was stepping down due to concerns the review would
continue to be a distraction ahead of the World Cup.
Coaching guru Wayne Smith was parachuted in to take over the top job, with Graham Henry and former Sevens mentor Allan Bunting added to the support staff alongside Whitney Hansen and Wes Clarke.
After more than 30 years of chronic under-resourcing and neglect, the Black Ferns rescue mission had begun in earnest.
Smith wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing.
Just six months out from the Black Ferns’ World Cup opener, he tore up the team playbook. One of the common sentiments uncovered in the review was that the Black Ferns game style had not moved on since the 2017 World Cup. They’d settled on a predictable brand of oneout runners and pick and go drives.
Smith’s own appraisal was that the Black Ferns had gotten themselves locked into a rigid structure. With speed weapons like Portia Woodman, Ruby Tui and Ayesha Leti-I’iga in the outside backs, and forwards with strong ball-handling ability, Smith felt the team needed a gameplan more suited to their innate strengths.
‘‘I was adamant that I wanted to create a game that was true to our DNA. Not to reinvent anything, but just teaching the girls how to play on top of teams and how to create the skills that only we need, because we’re the only ones playing that type of game,’’ Smith explains. ‘‘There’s a unique set of skills, and a unique mindset to playing how we play, and I wasn’t sure if we would be able to create that or not.’’
So, on a grey, overcast Christchurch day in early April, Smith, who at that stage had been contracted as technical director to assist Moore, unveiled his plan to the team.
His first few sessions with the team was, as Smith politely describes ‘‘a start’’. Skipper Ruahei Demant has a more frank assessment: ‘‘We were terrible’’.
In their first hit-outs – a practice match played over four quarters against one of the Lincoln Academy boys’ teams – Smith was forced to intervene at one point to get the play back on track.
‘‘I had to grab one of the girls by the pants as she was heading over to the far side of the field and the attack was over here,’’ he recalls.
‘‘They were just used to different structures, they were very structured, whereas my idea is if the attack is going on here, that’s where you need to be, you want to be attacking where the ball is, not run to a place where you’re told to be.
‘‘So that was eyeopening to me.’’
But Smith says he was reassured by how readily the players bought into the new gameplan, and how quickly they were able to adjust.
To help cement his plan and fasttrack the skill development needed, Smith cashed in some of the significant social capital he has built up over his 36-year coaching career, calling on All Black legends to help the cause. The likes of Ben Smith has been mentoring young fullback Renee Holmes, Ma’a Nonu has been working with Sylvia Brunt, while Dan Carter has run several specialist kicking sessions.
Veteran halfback Kendra Cocksedge is one such player who has had to make significant adjustments, virtually reinventing her game in the twilight of her career.
Cocksedge, for whom today’s ‘‘big dance’’ will be her last dance, recalls one of the first things Smith said to her was there was to be no more contestable box kicks. She was initially concerned – box kicks were her ‘‘thing’’.
But she says in the new fast, uptempo gamestyle, she has found a sense of freedom with Smith giving her the licence to control the pace, and play more of a running game.
‘‘We’ve played rugby that I have been really proud of,’’ says Smith.
‘‘It has taken a lot of work to be efficient enough to not run ourselves off our feet, and still play a really attacking game. I think we’ve done that, we’re not perfect, but hopefully it is a blueprint for the future because I think it has excited people, and it has excited the girls.’’
The Black Ferns’ all-out attacking mindset has indeed captivated the public. The hype, promotion and media interest throughout the tournament is unlike anything the women’s game has ever experienced.
That’s been reflected in ticket sales for this weekend’s final, with tickets for the Eden Park showdown selling out within minutes of the
Black Ferns’ heartstopping semifinal win over France last weekend. The team has laid out the welcome mat to all bandwagon jumpers. ‘‘All aboard, choo choo,’’ Ruby Tui joked at this week’s final media session in Auckland, which was standing room only.
The investment in human resource has been just one aspect of the Black Ferns’ remarkable turnaround.
Several key steps were already in place before Smith took charge of the squad. The move to fulltime contracts for the 30 contracted Black Ferns helped drive a shift in the high performance culture, allowing the players, many of whom were juggling work and study commitments, to prioritise rugby.
Ensuring the players were fulltime paid employees also removed the restrictions around the team’s ability to assemble. Instead of getting together on an ad-hoc basis, the players have been able to train together day-in, day-out in their regional performance hubs.
The launch of Super Rugby
Aupiki in March, albeit in truncated form, was another landmark development, providing a key stepping stone from Farah Palmer Cup to the international arena.
By far the biggest difference, according to lock Chelsea Bremner, has been good old fashioned matchplay.
The Black Ferns’ capitulation on the northern tour highlighted the importance of regular international fixtures. To avoid humiliation at a home World Cup, NZ Rugby had to ensure the Black Ferns had a full schedule of matches in the lead-up to the tournament.
Today’s final will be the Black Ferns 12th test this year – the highest number of games they have played in a season, with their nine games in 2014 their previous highest.
Bremner says these fixtures have been crucial to building confidence and cohesion.
‘‘Just getting more caps under our belt, especially our forward pack being relatively new, makes a real difference. You learn something new every time you step out onto the field, so I think that has made a real difference,’’ says Bremner.
While the Black Ferns’ turnaround in the past 10 months has shown the results of what proper investment and resourcing can do, their final opponents tonight are the product of sustained, long-term investment.
Since the last World Cup in 2017 England Rugby has invested heavily in its women’s programme and development pathways, launching the Allianz Cup – a 10-team top flight competition.
Over that time Sarah Hunter’s English side has amassed a winning streak of 30 matches – a record unrivalled in international rugby.
Smith admits the ruthlessly efficient Red Roses are a ‘‘frightening’’ proposition.
He says whatever the outcome this weekend, there have been many wins off the field for the Black Ferns.
The hype, promotion and media interest throughout the tournament is unlike anything the women’s game has ever experienced.