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Everything you need to know about the Black Ferns v Wallaroos 2.0

By Scotty Stevenson

The Black Ferns can lock away the Laurie O’Reilly Memorial Cup for another year when they face the Wallaroos in the second and final test of the series at Eden Park on Saturday. The New Zealanders have never lost to their Australian counterparts, and will be heavily favoured to win again this Saturday, but there are signs of improvement across the ditch and this test provides plenty of match-ups to savour. Scotty Stevenson has the match breakdown for your viewing pleasure.

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Faith in the Ferns:

Glenn Moore has given his team a chance to improve upon their performance in Sydney, which is typical of his coaching style. It wasn’t broke last week, but there were things that needed fixing. He has offered the same squad the opportunity to find those fixes, which will include better ball retention on the carry, and a more agile set up on backline attack because…

The Wallaroos midfield was outstanding:

The absence of Sarah O’Riordan in the centres could well have given the Black Ferns the notion that the Wallaroos would be weak through the midfield. This could not have been further from the truth. Debutants Crystal Maguire and Atasi Lafai were superb on defence and continually frustrated the Black Ferns’ attempts to go wide. They will have to be better again this week (and O’Riordan has been selected at 12 in place of Maguire which adds extra experience) as there is no doubt the home side would have added some more deception, mainly to…

Get Alena Saili into space:

Still just 19 years old, Alena Saili had some mighty big boots to fill in replacing the freakish Portia Woodman on the Black Ferns’ flank. There is only one Wonder Woodman, but we saw enough from Saili last weekend to know she can eat metres at will. Invariably, Saili was handed the ball with defenders all around her, but never once did she fail to make the gain line. She also sparked one movement that almost led to a try for Renee Wickliffe. That was shut down because…

Emily Chancellor had a blinder:

Holy shit, what a debut from the Wallaroos blindside flanker. Whatever she had to drink at halftime needs to be bottled and sold on the black market. Chancellor came out of the sheds for the turn and proceeded to play 40 of the most extraordinary minutes imaginable, punctuated by two massive plays: a covering tackle on Wickliffe to save a certain try and a final try assist pass for the Wallaroos own try minutes later. Chancellor’s combination with fellow debutant Georgia O’Neill and the experienced Grace Hamilton is proof there are great foundations for this team to build upon. But it needs to start with…

Finding Parity in the front row:

An abacus was required to count the number of early carries made by the Black Ferns frontrow of Pip Love, Fiao’o Faamausili and Aldora Itunu. The three combined for a Black Ferns blitzkrieg that supplied a constant stream of ball for halfback Kendra Cocksedge to use. Captain Faamausili showed her peerless nous at the back of the Ferns’ formidable lineout drive and secured a hat-trick of tries, while Itunu crashed over for one of her own from a pick and drive. Replacement Wallaroos frontrower Hana Ngaha showed some power of her own late in the game, but it was perhaps too little, too late. Finding a way to stop the three kiwis early will have been foremost in the minds of the Australian pack. And they will need to if they want to…

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Get Mahalia Murphy into the game:

Having become accustomed to talking up the Black Ferns’ outside backs, you could have been forgiven for not paying too much attention to Wallaroos fullback Mahalia Murphy. That would be a mistake this weekend after witnessing her blistering runs in the first test in Sydney.

There were question marks over the decision to move Sam Treherne to the wing to make room for Murphy, but those questions were answered in emphatic fashion. Murphy twice cut the New Zealand defensive line to shreds while Treherne was an energetic and organised presence out wide. The Wallaroos will want to give both players more ball this weekend, and that’s going to come down to the vision of….

Trileen Pomare and Ruahei Demant:

Both first fives made their international debuts last Saturday and both looked organised on attack. Demant will get the points victory for her running game – something she relishes generally, but was forced into on a number of occasions by the Wallaroos’ midfield rush. Both tens will be better for the test last week. One thing to watch will be the growing combination between Demant and halfback Kendra Cocksedge because…

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Kendra Cocksedge is a freak:

There is not a player in the women’s game with more aerobic ability and vision than the Black Ferns’ vice-captain. Do yourself a favour and spend a few minutes just watching her. She scored the first try of the test last weekend after tracking inside Renee Wickliffe, took a quick tap to set up another, and invariably made up for every missed tackle in the game by tracking back and making the stop. Oh, and she kicks goals too. Just like…

Emily Robinson the goal-kicking prop.

Yes. The loose-head prop is the Wallaroos goal kicker. I applaud this. I applaud this a lot.

The need to know:

Kick off for the match is 5pm NZT Saturday Night.

The last time these teams played at Eden Park, the Black Ferns won 67-3, posting their highest score against Australia. The 64-point margin is their equal largest against Australia. This will be the 16th time these sides have met since the Wallaroos maiden test against New Zealand
in 1994.

Last week’s test in Sydney was the Wallaroos 50th all time.

Honoured with a moment’s silence before the game last weekend was Wallaroo #34 Mieke Fortune who lost her battle with breast cancer earlier this month.

For the men out there: Please ensure the women in your life are aware of the symptoms of breast
cancer and have regular screenings.

In other news:

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Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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