Bunting highlights ‘what it’s going to take’ for Black Ferns at World Cup

As the old adage goes, defence wins championships. It’s a well-known sporting cliché that has been proven true time and time again, and Director of Performance Allan Bunting expects defence to be a key area for the Black Ferns in the weeks ahead.

New Zealand made a statement at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup with an emphatic 40-0 win over Ireland, which has seen the reigning world champions go through pool play unbeaten ahead of a quarter-final against South Africa.

Braxton Sorensen-McGee continues to star on the international rugby stage, with the 18-year-old scoring a hat-trick of tries for the second Test in a row. This followed Sorensen-McGee’s Player of the Match performance against Japan in Exeter..

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But as Bunting highlighted post-game, the Black Ferns were especially “formidable” in defence, as they held one of the world’s best teams to nil. Ireland never really fired a shot beyond the fifth minute, where Eve Higgins was tackled about five metres short of the try line.

Amee-Leigh Costigan came close to scoring during the second term, but a kick downfield rolled about one metre too far into touch. It was a dominant display from the Black Ferns, who backed up their impressive defence with six tries.

“Job done, pretty proud of that one, Scott [Bemand] and the Irish ladies really threw everything at us and put us under a lot of pressure,” Bunting said.

“We were formidable on D, we didn’t want to let them past and that’s what it’s going to take to go further in this competition. Really proud of that, and also of how clinical our ladies were too.

“We’ll enjoy this moment. There are things that we can build off to be a bit better for next week.”

After an error-riddled start to the Test from the Black Ferns, they got their point-scoring blitz underway through Stacey Waaka in the 14^th minute. Sorensen-McGee set the two-time Olympic gold medallist up with a draw and pass, and the try was converted by Renee Holmes.

Chryss Viliko added another five points to New Zealand’s score soon after, before Sorensen-McGee showcased some individual brilliance to cross just before half-time. The winger dove over for another two in the second half, with Maia Joseph scoring the other.

New Zealand will face South Africa in the next stage, with the Springbok Women defeating Italy last weekend to secure their place in the quarters for the first time. While they were beaten 57-10 by France on Sunday, the Boks pose an exciting challenge.

“I’m really proud of the girls, we go away each week and just get better and better and I’m glad we got to display that today,” Black Ferns co-captain Kennedy Tukuafu explained.

“It was about giving Ireland the respect they deserve. They’re a classy team, they’re really clinical in their maul and the set-piece and we made sure we targeted that and then gave it to the power in the backs, and some of our forwards also got tries today, which is awesome.

“It’s really exciting. We’d be really excited to meet the South Africans; obviously our men have a really strong rivalry with them. We’ve spoken about the courage that they would have (if we play them). We’d have to match up physically and get mentally tough.”