Coach: Kiwi Ferns froze in Cup final
Kiwi Ferns coach Ricky Henry conceded his team saved its worst for last after losing 54-4 to Australia in the Rugby League World Cup final.
New Zealand had been the only team able to live with the Jillaroos in the games leading up to the title decider. But at Old Trafford yesterday, they were taken apart just like every other team that Australia had faced at this tournament.
While the Jillaroos were ruthless on attack and defence, the Kiwi Ferns fell well short of their earlier 10-8 loss to their trans-Tasman rivals in pool play.
‘‘To Australia’s credit, they put a bit of pressure on us early in the game,’’ a disappointed Henry said at his post-match press conference.
‘‘They got a couple of results there and it snowballed.
‘‘With rugby league, it’s all about pressure and whether you can handle it and whether you can apply it, and they did a good job of that today.’’
The Kiwi Ferns had been impressive throughout the World Cup, not only in their close loss to Australia, but also the 20-6 win over tournament hosts England in the semifinals.
But their tournament does end on a sour note, with the team not able to rise to the occasion.
‘‘That’s the disappointing part,’’ Henry said. ‘‘We tried to give ourselves a chance there and to be fair, we probably played our worst game out there today, rather than our best.
‘‘We went out there and sort of froze and didn’t get the job done.
‘‘But I’m really proud of our players, I’m really proud of what they’ve done in this campaign and we can only go away and take a whole lot of positives.’’
A difference between the two teams going into the final was that Australia rested seven players for their semifinal against Papua New Guinea, to keep them fresh for the final, while the Kiwi Ferns put out their strongest team for three games in a row, all played within
nine days. But Henry didn’t feel that played a part in his team putting in a flat performance.
‘‘We didn’t rest as many players as we wanted to,’’ he said. ‘‘We wanted them game hardened and match fit and I don’t think that played a massive part in the performance today.
‘‘We were healthy, we were trotting around. We had a couple of bangs and bruises, but from an injury point of view we were fine, so we can’t put it down to that.’’
Kiwi Ferns captain Krystal Rota said she was proud of what the players had done during the tournament, but admitted it was a disappointing final.
‘‘We started on the back foot and things accumulated backwards from there,’’ she said.
‘‘We had to struggle to find our
way back into the game. But despite the scoreboard I was still proud of the girls’ efforts. Not just today, but as Ricky said we probably played our worst game.’’
The Jillaroos scored 312 points during the World Cup and conceded just 12, so there is clearly a massive gap between them and every other rugby league playing nation. They have now equalled New Zealand’s record of three women’s World Cup titles.
With the NRLW getting bigger, there’s every chance Australia’s dominance will continue, unless the Kiwi Ferns and New Zealand Rugby League can adapt to the changes in the sport.
‘‘There are a few things that need to change and be looked at,’’ Henry said. ‘‘Obviously, the game has grown so rapidly in Australia and we need to try to get on that train as well and prepare our players as best we can to get them to play at the standards we need.’’
Henry said thoughts need to move on to the next World Cup, in France in three year’s time. Lessons must be learned from this tournament, but also work done to start building a squad for that tournament.