Confident Kiwi Ferns ‘not fazed by England’ At a glance
Kiwi Ferns halfback Raecene McGregor was keen to focus on the positives after her side’s heartbreaking 10-8 loss to the Jillaroos in their final pool game of the women’s World Cup.
The New Zealanders looked on the cusp of a big upset against defending champions and title favourites Australia when they took the lead in the 55th minute through a try from Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly. But a
Aubert kicked four goals and a field goal.
Bond missed the Kiwis’ 34-15 defeat to Australia – captained by the great Clive Churchill – before 20,000 fans at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome. Kiwis halfback Lenny Eriksen scored a try after a 45m break and Ron McKay kicked six goals. But Bond was back at prop for game three against Great Britain at Stade Municipal in Bordeaux where they were restricted to three McKay goals in a 26-6 defeat.
The first World Cup final was a northern hemisphere affair. Great Britain, boasting just three players from the squad that toured New Zealand earlier in the year, broke French fans’ hearts with a 16-12 win. But the World Cup was still a success for the Kiwis in Amos’ eyes. ‘‘I think the games have done a tremendous amount of good for rugby league in all four countries, but it is a pity they could not be arranged to suit everybody,’’ he told reporters. ‘‘They were out of season for us and for Australia. The effect of that has been apparent in our play.’’
The tour wasn’t over for the Kiwis, though. They had a few games in Britain before embarking on a series of exhibition matches with Australia in America.
Bond said the team ‘‘came home over the North Pole and landed in New York’’, but not without some drama before their outward flight left Scotland. ‘‘We had to go back to the hotel that night on account of the motor had to come out of the plane. missed conversion from Brianna Clark – her second – proved decisive as Julia Robinson’s 62nd-minute try proved the difference in York.
The defeat means the Kiwi Ferns finish as runners-up in Group B behind Australia and will meet Group A winners England in the semifinals.
Sydney Roosters star McGregor was still proud of her team’s efforts and already looking
Then, in the morning, I didn’t want to get on that plane to fly over Poland, Greenland and one thing and another because the motor had to be replaced.’’
But fly he did, and the Kiwis had a memorable United States stay. They were due to play three games in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, to promote rugby league to uninitiated Americans. But the first game was abandoned after six minutes when a thick sea fog swept over Long Beach Memorial Stadium. The players couldn’t see more than a few metres.
He recalled this week that the players had to ‘‘form a queue’’ by linking arms to advance to the other side of the ground where the line umpire and some players ‘‘didn’t know the game was called off’’.
‘‘We stopped all night in the clubhouse that night and next day we played a daylight game, said Bond, who chuckled when recalling how the fans couldn’t believe us guys running around in shorts with no padding on and belting s… out of each other.’’
The Kiwis lost the first game 30-13 despite tries by Neville Denton, John Yates and captain Eastlake.
Bond kicked three goals in the second
At LNER Stadium, York: Australia 10 (Tarryn Aiken, Julia Robinson tries; Ali Brigginshaw gl) New Zealand 8 (Apii Nicholls, Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly tries). HT: 4-6.
ahead to their semifinal showdown with England on Tuesday, 8.30am (NZT).
ond’s father Roy was responsible for his son switching from playing rugby union in his teens. ‘‘Dad came down to watch me play on the wing for Kaiapoi at North Hagley Park one day. He said that night, ‘You’re playing the wrong bloody game, why don’t you turn over to league?’’
So, young Bondy did, and never looked back. He was in the first Papanui club premier team as a 15-year-old forward, and a year later made his Canterbury debut. His test debut came in 1953 on home soil at Addington Showgrounds against Australia.
Almost 70 years later, Bond still rapidly reels off the names of his Kangaroos front row rivals ‘‘Roy Bull, Brian Davies and Ken Kearney, the hooker they got back from England’’.
The Kiwis won 25-5, with Bond kicking a superb sideline goal. ‘‘Des White had kicked four of four and Haigy [captain Jimmy Haig] said, ‘Do you think you could kick that one Bondy?’ Bond replied: ‘‘Yes, I’ll have a go anyway. And I stuck it right in the middle.’’
Bond gave as good as he got on the pitch, but reckoned he only once deliberately went out to hit someone – former Kiwis captain Maurie Robertson, who had ‘‘stiff armed me when were playing up in Auckland’’.
Today, Bond still avidly follows NRL on television. ‘‘I love that Aussie league, but it’s got to the stage now where there are all these gang tackles. A lot of the guys that hit one another are hitting their own man. They come over the top, bang, smack in the head. A helluva lot them today are getting head injuries. We never had that in our day, it was only one-onone or two-on-one. Now there’s three of four in a tackle. The game’s got too professional, too much money. In our day we were amateurs and we were playing professionals.’’
‘‘It was pretty tough, we were in that for the whole game. So yeah, tough to lose that in the last few minutes there, but I’m really happy with how the girls performed and heading into the semifinals, it was a really good effort from us,’’ McGregor said.
The Jillaroos take on world No 4 Papua New Guinea in the other semifinal on Tuesday (NZT) as part of a doubleheader in York.