Late loss of captain crucial blow to NZ team’s cause
Black Ferns Sevens superstar Portia Woodman has spoken of her pain at inadvertently causing captain Sarah Hirini’s departure at a crucial stage in New Zealand’s heartbreaking final loss to Australia.
The Black Ferns came within a whisker of winning the Canada Sevens yesterday – their first World Series event in more than 800 days – but blew a late lead to lose the final 21-17.
The Black Ferns had to see out the final stages without the calming influence of Hirini, who copped an accidental left elbow to the face from Woodman with just over a minute left in the decider.
It was a crucial moment, and Woodman said she felt ‘‘so bad’’ for taking Hirini out of the contest. She departed with blood streaming from her nose.
‘‘I think she said ‘because it was you it wasn’t so bad’, but I felt awful,’’ Woodman said.
‘‘We were trying to get the physio to rush on so we could stop the blood, but the ref was like ‘no, you’ve got a blood bin, you’ve got to go’. I felt so bad doing that to Sarah.’’
With one eye on the Commonwealth Games to be held in the UK in July-August, Woodman said the loss was a bit of a wakeup call.
‘‘For the build-up to the Commonwealth Games this is exactly what we need,’’ she said after the final. ‘‘I think today’s loss is a good little reminder that we’ve still got a lot to work on, and we’re really excited about that.
‘‘I like losing in some ways . . . when we lose we can learn so much more from it. You’re not complacent, you’re always trying to find ways to be better. You’re always fighting to be better.’’
The Black Ferns learnt a hard lesson in the final, when they had a
‘‘I like losing in some ways . . . when we lose we can learn so much more from it.’’
Portia Woodman
17-14 lead, possession and strong field position before conceding three consecutive breakdown penalties.
Woodman said the Black Ferns would need to tidy up that area before the next World Series event in Toulouse, France, later this month.
‘‘When Aussie got that last turnover we had 10 seconds left on the field,’’ she said. ‘‘All we had to do was hopefully hold on to the ball for one more ruck, and it would have been game over.
‘‘It’s interesting knowing that just 10 seconds and it would have been a completely different game.
‘‘And once we get marched with three penalties that’s 30 metres down the field. We pretty much walked them down to the tryline.’’
The Aussies have now won all but one of the five World Series events so far, and are the team to beat as the tournament moves to Toulouse for the women’s and men’s tournaments on May 20-22.
It’s a far cry from the Tokyo Olympics last year, when Australia were knocked out at the quarterfinal stage by Fiji, eventually finishing fifth.
However, under returning coach Tim Walsh, who was in charge when the Aussies won gold at the Rio Olympics, Australia have reinvigorated their squad with the addition of new players such as Maddison Levi, who played a pivotal role in the final.
‘‘They’ve got fight in them,’’ Woodman said. ‘‘I think they look fit, they look fast, they look strong.
‘‘They’ve lifted their game, so now it’s time for us to lift our game. We can’t expect the same old Aussie.’’
Woodman also brought up a personal milestone of 200 World Series career tries during the Canada Sevens, but she said the improving standards of all the teams meant she would have to work ever harder to add to that tally.