Taranaki Daily News

Search to begin for new Black Ferns coach

- Andrew Voerman

New Zealand Rugby is set to start the process of finding a new Black Ferns coach as soon as it possibly can.

Wayne Smith made it clear when he signed on as the team’s director of rugby in April that he would take on the role through to the end of the Rugby World Cup but go no further.

And even after they defeated England in the final at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday for their 12th win in 12 matches with him in charge, his plans haven’t changed.

He’ll be watching on with renewed interest as the team – and internatio­nal women’s rugby in general – embarks on a new era in 2023, having had ‘‘one of the greatest experience­s of [his] life’’ over the past seven months.

That means someone new will have to take charge, with assistant coach Wesley Clarke and former Black Ferns Sevens coach Allan Bunting, who has been with the 15s team this year in a culture and leadership role, likely to be amongst the leading contenders.

Speaking at the Black Ferns’ celebratio­n event in Te Komititang­a Square on Sunday, New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said the appointmen­t of a new coach was something the organisati­on would be getting onto ‘‘very quickly’’.

‘‘Obviously it hasn’t been an immediate focus. We didn’t want to distract from anything going on in these last couple of weeks, but there’s obviously been some conversati­ons about what the process looks like and we’ll certainly communicat­e more around that when we’re ready.’’

Robinson wouldn’t commit to having a coach in place by Christmas, but early February, when Super Rugby Aupiki teams will start assembling, looms as the time when there will need to be someone in place.

The second season of the semiprofes­sional competitio­n is set to start on February 25 in Levin and Dunedin and will culminate in a finals day in Hamilton a month later, with each of the four teams – the Blues, Chiefs Manawa, Hurricanes Poua and Matatū – playing five matches.

Whoever takes charge of the Black Ferns will be tasked with carrying on the attacking style of play Smith has installed – one the players, led by co-captain Ruahei Demant, have come to love.

Bonus payment for win

Mark Robinson says he is ‘‘hopeful’’ the Black Ferns will receive a bonus payment for winning the women’s World Cup.

Speaking on Radio NZ yesterday morning, Robinson said the organisati­on was currently working on a financial reward for the New Zealand players.

‘‘We are working through that at the moment,’’ Robinson said.

‘‘Hopefully over the next couple of days we will sort through that, and ... yeah, it would be nice to do something. We would like to be in a position to do something pretty soon.’’

The All Blacks were promised a $150,000 bonus per player if they defended their men’s World Cup crown in Japan in 2019. New Zealand were beaten by England in the semifinals.

Prior to the tournament, rugby bosses defended the lack of a bonus pot for the Black Ferns at the tournament, outlining a pay structure that puts female players in Aotearoa at the top of the scale globally.

Sarah Hirini was adamant the Black Ferns’ Rugby World Cup final win over England at Eden Park on Saturday ‘‘has to be the start of something special’’.

But while they are set to play more tests than they ever have before outside a World Cup year in 2023, it’s possible only one of them will be on home soil.

Hirini gave a glimpse at the team’s immediate future during the celebratio­n event at Te Komititang­a Square in downtown Auckland on Sunday, when she said they were due to have eight tests next year.

Six of those will come as part of World Rugby’s new WXV competitio­n, which involves 18 teams competing across three tiers, and encompasse­s existing competitio­ns such as the Pacific Four Series and the Six Nations.

The Pacific Four Series will be the Black Ferns’ first assignment in 2023 and though specific dates are yet to be confirmed, it is expected to take place in late May and early June.

It is also expected to take place in a single country, as it did this year in New Zealand, with one of the other competing nations – Australia, Canada and the United States – playing host as they play each other once.

The top three teams from the Pacific Four Series, which will almost certainly include the Black Ferns, will qualify for WXV 1, which will pit them against the top three teams from the Six Nations – likely to be England, France and one of Ireland, Italy, Scotland or Wales – in a centralise­d venue to be determined.

If New Zealand doesn’t host the first WXV 1 tournament, that would leave the home test in the two-match Laurie O’reilly Cup with Australia’s Wallaroos, expected to be played in July or August, as the Black Ferns’ only home fixture in 2023, barring any additions to the schedule.

NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said at the celebratio­n event that the format for the Pacific Four Series was ‘‘still being put together at the moment – whether part of it’s played here or overseas’’.

That means the Black Ferns’ number of home tests was ‘‘to be confirmed in the coming months’’.

A real coup would be getting England and/or France, who finished second and third at the World Cup, to return to New Zealand at some stage before the next event in 2025, for what would surely be hotly-anticipate­d rematches following their narrow losses to the Black Ferns in the final stages.

England had visited New Zealand just twice in the decade prior to the World Cup, in 2013 and 2017, while France had never been here before.

If the Black Ferns were to only play one home test in 2023, that would be on par with 2019 and

2018, where their only home outings were Laurie O’reilly Cup matches that were curtain-raisers for Bledisloe Cup tests between the All Blacks and the Wallabies.

They played at home three times in 2017, hosting Australia, Canada and England for a series where each team played each other – a total of three matches each – in the space of eight days.

While there was one standalone matchday in Christchur­ch, the other two Black Ferns tests were curtain-raisers for a Super Rugby clash and a match between New Zealand Māori and the touring British and Irish Lions.

Two Black Ferns tests were played in New Zealand in 2016, both against the Wallaroos – one as a curtain-raiser to a Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park and another as a standalone fixture at North Harbour Stadium four days later.

Robinson said ‘‘there was definitely merit’’ in having more standalone matches for the Black Ferns, pointing to his push to have the inaugural tour by a women’s British and Irish combined team take place in New Zealand at some stage before the Lions men return to these shores in 2029.

There is likely to be a degree of caution in assessing how the crowds seen at the World Cup will translate to lower profile fixtures,

with the second season of Super Rugby Aupiki – the first with crowds allowed to attend – set to be a useful barometer in February and March.

Eden Park was only just over half full when the Black Ferns played France in their semifinal before selling out for the final with an official crowd figure of 42,579, while their last standalone test before the World Cup, against Australia in Christchur­ch in August, attracted just 3813 fans.

But as Hirini said, the fruits of the Black Ferns’ efforts over the past five weeks, where they’ve attracted the five largest crowds for women’s sports events in New Zealand history, have ‘‘to be the start of something new’’.

‘‘Obviously we’ve wanted it for a very long time and for it to finally happen now is pretty special. But it needs to continue. It has to.

‘‘We play rugby that everyone wants to watch and everyone wants to turn up for, so why not invest in it? Why not back it?

‘‘Honestly, we’re going to create something special for a very long time.’’

 ?? ?? Wesley Clarke, left, and Allan Bunting are possible contenders for the Black Ferns head coach job.
Wesley Clarke, left, and Allan Bunting are possible contenders for the Black Ferns head coach job.
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 ?? KAI SCHWOERER/ STUFF ?? The Black Ferns celebrate Stacey Fluhler’s try in the 34-31 victory over England in the World Cup final last Saturday.
KAI SCHWOERER/ STUFF The Black Ferns celebrate Stacey Fluhler’s try in the 34-31 victory over England in the World Cup final last Saturday.

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