Black Ferns envelop all before them
Brendan Gallagher continues his series charting the history of the women’s game
SURPRISINGLY, given New Zealand’s passion for the game and the ‘equality’ their women gained earlier than most in society generally, the Black Ferns took a while to make a big impact in the Women’s game. But when they did, the result was truly spectacular, the Kiwis swamping Women’s rugby in a tidal wave of excellence, brilliance and winning ways with four consecutive World Cups between 1998 and 2010.
Back in 1991, although the game was well established at various universities, all the pieces weren’t quite in place, but in the spirit of adventure they raised a team, and the finance required, for the inaugural World Cup in Cardiff where they lost 7-0 in the semifinal to eventual winners USA. They also played an unofficial play-off game against France – no 3rd-4th place game had been scheduled – which the French won 3-0. The French awarded caps, New Zealand did not.
Three years later, although they were quickly becoming a power, there was no money left in the kitty for another expensive trip to Britain for the second World Cup, held in Scotland. So it was 1998 before the Black Ferns finally began to flex their muscles in that tournament.
The rugby world was already bracing itself. At the 1996 Canada Cup – a big gathering of the main nations between World Cups – they went on an extraordinary rampage in Edmonton, beating hosts Canada 88-0, the USA 88-8 and France 109-0. A year later they were still dishing it out at home, thrashing England 67-0 and Australia 44-0.
They were producing astonishing rugby – such pace and athleticism had never been seen before in the women’s game – and it was backed up by the native rugby intelligence that all Kiwis seemed to be born with. They arrived in Amsterdam, sweltering in an early summer heatwave, as strong favourites and fully lived up to that tag.
It was spectacular to watch and in terms of PR and public awareness this was a huge tournament for women’s rugby. The Kiwis blazed a trail beating Scotland 76-0, Spain 46-3, a very decent England side 44-11 and then, in the final, underlined their supremacy with a crushing 44-12 win over USA. England took the play-off with a 31-15 win over Canada.The entire New Zealand squad possessed star quality but two or three in particular stood out. At fly-half was Anna Richards and despite the modern-day stars that adorn the game you can still make out a very real argument that she is the greatest woman player of all time, certainly the most successful.
Richards, who learned the game at Canterbury University where she was also a representative netball player, was blessed with blazing pace and an eye for an opening but although she knew where the line was her great genius was as a creator.
A four-time World Cup winner with New Zealand, Richards played every minute of every game for New Zealand in their triumphs in 1998 and subsequently 2002, 2006 and 2010. At all times she was the rugby brain making it happen.
And then there was Farah Palmer, the skipper who not only led New Zealand to World Cup victory in Holland but also in Spain in 2002 and Canada 2006. A tough, fiery hooker she lost only once in 35 Test match appearances for New Zealand and was IRB Women’s player of the year in 2005 and inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2014 along with Richards. Like All Black legend Colin Meade she hails from Te Kuiti where they breed them tough.
Another big personality and role model during the lead up to the World Cup in 1998 and during the tournament itself was powerhouse wing Louisa Wall who was also a netball star for the Silver Ferns, New Zealand’s national netball team. Wall proved particularly adept at attracting new recruits to the women’s game from school visits but she herself soon concentrated on politics becoming an MP in the New Zealand parliament.
The gauntlet had been thrown down in 1998 and New Zealand didn’t find it quite so easy in 2002 in a splendidly organised tournament in Spain with the final being held in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, a real coup for the organisers.
It was England, who like everybody else had been outclassed in Holland, who rose to the challenge showing real mettle as they moved through the rounds, particularly in the semi-final when they dismissed Canada 53-10. New Zealand had met some resistance in the quarter-final against Australia (36-3) and France (30-0) and there was no sense of inevitability when they lined up against England in front of an 8,000 crowd.
It was tight and cagey – cup rugby – but again New Zealand, with all that experience, had the nous. Tries either side of half-time from Monique Hirovanaa and Cheryl Waaka established their ascendency and heralded a 19-9 win.
Having cleared that hurdle and beaten that spirited England side New Zealand really hit their stride, indeed they were to remain unbeaten from 2002 to 2009 during which time they claimed 24 straight wins.
In the 2006 final England looked to rattle New Zealand
“Kiwis swamped Women’s rugby in a tidal wave of excellence”
early on and enjoyed territorial advantage, but tries from Monalisa Codling and Stephanie Mortimer saw New Zealand settle before England closed to 15-10 with a penalty try. In a tense second half, New Zealand’s Victoria Heighway and England’s Heather Clayton swapped tries before a final try from Amira Marsh clinched the issue 25-17 for New Zealand
Could anybody stop New Zealand? Well the only real challengers still appeared to be England and in 2010 they were to enjoy home advantage with the tournament based at the Surrey Sports village in Guildford with the knockout stages at the Stoop Memorial Ground, home of Harlequins. Although the ageless Richards was still there for New Zealand a couple of major new players had emerged. Kelly Brazier was a talented goal-kicking centre and powerhouse wing Carla Hohepa ended the tournament with seven tries to finish joint top with the remarkable Heather Moyse, Canada’s double Olympic gold medallist in the bobsleigh and a remarkable athlete who operated mainly at full-back for Canada.
The two main protagonists duly potted their way to the final in 2010 which proved a splendidly gritty, fiery affair played in front of a capacity 13,000 crowd at The Stoop.
England rattled New Zealand with their physicality and the Kiwis also encountered yellow card issues with three in the game and being down to 13 players at one stage – although typically that was when they dug deepest and produced a final sidestepping try from the prolific Hohepa to lead 7-0.
England hit back hard though in the second half and a converted try from Charlotte Barras and a penalty apiece took the scores to 10-10. Then Brazier stepped forward to add a second penalty 15 minutes from time, a kick that ultimately proved to be the winner as New Zealand resisted everything England could throw at them. A fourth straight World Cup was theirs.