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Black Ferns squad selected for O'Reilly Cup and WXV 1
At the beginning of the week, a Black Ferns squad of 30 players was selected for the O’Reilly Cup against Australia on September 30th in Hamilton and the inaugural WXV1 tournament in October/November.
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A Black Ferns XV was laos picked to tussle with Manu Sina on September 23 in Pukekohe.
Established World Cup-winning Black Ferns Pip Love, Kendra Reynolds, and Joanah Ngan-Woo were cut from the Black Ferns squad while Grace Brooker was demoted to the Black Ferns XV.
The new caps in the Blacks Ferns are Auckland props Sophie Fisher and Chryss Viliko, Manawat? loose forward Layla Sae, and Canterbury wing Martha Mataele.
The latter two selections are not a surprise. Sae is a contracted Black Fern and Mataele has scored at least a single try in ten of her last 13 games for Canterbury and was strong in Aupiki for champions Matat?.
Fisher and Viliko have been steady improvers throughout the season and busted the hinges on the door in the FPC final. Fisher is a converted lock who covers tighthead and kicks goals. Viliko, a big and athletic loosehead is only 20.
Black Ferns Squad:
Kate Henwood (34, Chiefs Manawa, Bay of Plenty, 2)
Krystal Murray (30, Hurricanes Poua, Northland, 10)
Chryss Viliko (20, Blues, Auckland, new cap)
Georgia Ponsonby (23, Matat?, Canterbury, 16)
Luka Connor (26, Chiefs Manawa, Bay of Plenty, 16)
Natalie Delamere (26, Matat?, Bay of Plenty, 3)
Amy Rule (23, Matat?, Canterbury, 16)
Sophie Fisher (24, Blues, Auckland, new cap)
Tanya Kalounivale (24, Chiefs Manawa, Waikato, 8)
Charmaine Smith (31, Chiefs Manawa, Northland, 27)
Chelsea Bremner (28, Chiefs Manawa, Canterbury, 15)
Maiakawanakaulani Roos (22, Blues, Auckland, 17)
Alana Bremner (26, Matat?, Canterbury, 15)
Kennedy Simon (26, Chiefs Manawa, Waikato, 16) – Co-Captain
Layla Sae (22, Hurricanes Poua, Manawat?, new cap)
Liana Mikaele Tu’u (21, Blues, Auckland, 14)
Lucy Jenkins (22, Matat?, Canterbury, 2)
Ariana Bayler (26, Blues, Waikato, 7)
Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu (31, Chiefs Manawa, Counties Manukau, 15)
Iritana Hohaia (23, Hurricanes Poua, Taranaki, 3)
Rosie Kelly (23, Matat?, Canterbury, 3)
Ruahei Demant (28, Blues, Auckland, 29) – Co-Captain
Amy du Plessis (24, Matat?, Canterbury, 10)
Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu Atai’i (Sylvia) Brunt (19, Blues, Auckland, 9)
Patricia Maliepo (20, Blues, Auckland, 3)
Katelyn Vahaakolo (23, Blues, Auckland, 2)
Martha Mataele (24, Matat?, Canterbury, new cap)
Mererangi Paul (24, Chiefs Manawa, Counties Manukau, 2)
Renee Holmes (23, Matat?, Waikato, 13)
Ruby Tui (31, Counties Manukau, 10)
A Black Ferns XV of 27 players, with half the squad under the age of 22, was a compelling selection and suggests plenty of talent exists.
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The youngest player in the team is 17-year-old Wellington centre and winger Justine McGregor. The Pride didn’t win a single game in the Premiership, but McGregor thrived. Her first-round hat-trick in a 29-58 loss to Canterbury was stunning.
With 12 tries Angelica Vahai was the leading try scorer in the FPC. The 18-year-old Auckland wing is still in high school and thrilled with her graceful and clinical finishing.
Otago centre Cheyenne Cunningham is a shepherd who travels ten hours a week just to play for the Spirit. She has an eye for the try line and good all-around skills at centre.
Her teammate Maia Joseph won the Fiao’o Fa’amausili Medal as the best and fairest player in 2022 and continued to flourish this year. Maia is the daughter of Japan coach and former All Blacks loose forward Jamie Joseph.
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With 130 tackles, openside Leah Miles was the FPC’s top tackler and another Otago player rewarded for a strong season.
The weakest aspect of the New Zealand game is tight forward play though mauling was much better this season and there is some real expertise in scrum coaching now.
Prop Moomooga Palu (Hawke’s Bay) and hooker Atlanta Lolohea (Canterbury) are very much investments in the future with the blessed gift of rare size. Canterbury locks Laura Bayfield and Emma Dermody looked most at home among World Cup-winning Black Ferns.
Will we see a post-World Cup Surge? Overtures about a groundswell of new interest in the competition following the Black Ferns meteoric World Cup success proved misleading.
While the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership final was well attended, the fan base at actual games was small and cosigned to those close to the players and a few hearty fans.
Media coverage possibly shrunk from last year with much focus on the All Blacks World Cup campaign and governance issues within New Zealand Rugby. When Ruby Tui returned there were frivolous stories about her involvement rather than informed analysis about the actual games.
All fixtures were televised live on Sky TV. The diligent Taylah Johnson and veterans Ken Laban and Rikki Swannell provided insight as did some ex-Black Ferns who were refreshing new voices.
However, much of the commentary left a lot to be desired. Basic facts were often misquoted, or just absent from a broadcast. There appeared to be a refusal to criticise poor play and not enough work was done on pronunciation.
Why Black Ferns Sevens players are consistently shielded from the FPC when the World Series doesn’t start until November is a mystery. The Black Ferns Sevens have enjoyed a consistently higher level of profile and training than their fifteen aside counterparts. The competition would undoubtedly be enhanced by their presence even in select games.
In 2022 there were 14 games decided by 20 points or more. This season 21 of the 44 matches were decided by 20 points or more.
Bridging the gap between the strongest and the weakest unions isn’t a straightforward task but with National Secondary School championships Manukura only playing four fully-fledged games this season strengthening high school rugby should be a priority.
In the Premiership Canterbury only finished two places ahead of Hawke’s Bay. Yet on August 12, Canterbury beat the Tui 84-14 in Hastings. Canterbury fielded nine contracted Black Ferns.
They have a full-time coach, Jimmy Sinclair, who works closely with Matat? rugby director and Black Ferns World Cup-winning assistant coach Whitney Hansen.
By contrast, Hawkes Bay has five teams in their senior club competition. They played a single round that concluded in May. Coach Sione Cherrington-Kite is a primary school teacher at Te Kura o Kimi Ora.
Eight players are a part of the Hawke’s Bay Academy with regular access to union gym facilities. Others are only welcome if they ‘buy into the programme.’ Because of work commitments that’s often not possible so they train elsewhere.
Some players were even asked to leave when trying to do voluntary extras. Hawkes Bay does have a union-employed personal trainer who assists the Tui.
The governance review into New Zealand Rugby which indicated Provincial Unions are drastically overspending on high-performance male programs and are in a financially dire position raises question marks about the future sustainability of a 13-team women’s competition.
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to comments