‘Expect the unexpected’: Whitney Hansen delivers warning to Black Ferns ahead of Boks clash

Whitney Hansen has told her Black Ferns team to “expect the unexpected” against the Springbok Women at FNB Stadium this weekend.

It will be the first time that the two teams have played one another on South African soil, with the fixture forming part of a Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry doubleheader ahead of the Springboks men’s third Test against the All Blacks.

The last time the two teams met was in a Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 quarter-final at Exeter’s Sandy Park, where the Black Ferns won 46-27 after the scoreboard read 10-10 at the halfway point.

Early on the Black Ferns were unable to pick the Springbok Women as their pick-and-go game and set piece ingenuity left New Zealand on their heels.

“The one that we’ve talked about, the South Africa, is you can’t really expect to know what’s coming anywhere at any time or anything,” Hansen said.

“So expect the unexpected, but what we do know is that our physical slots scored and they’ll bring a physical game. So I think we can, we can predict there’ll be the same thing around the picking goes.

“They’ll look to play through us. I’ll look to offload and they’ll look to you, see a set piece and then more game and you know, we need to be ready for that. Quite a bit of workload coming up.”

The memory of the Springboks’ last meeting with the Black Ferns is not too distant for Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu. In the opening 28 minutes at Sandy Park the tighthead prop made an eye-watering 21 tackles.

She laughed on Thursday when recalling that afternoon: “I’m still recovering from that game.”

A starter again against the Boks, Mahutariki-Fakalelu knows just how deep she and her teammates may have to dig to secure victory on Saturday.

“I think they’re a very creative and innovative team, which we’ve seen from the past, like they do things that we’ve never seen before, so I’m really excited for that and I expect them to be 80 minutes off anything,” Mahutariki-Fakalelu said.

King handed the keys

Hansen has taken the opportunity to experiment with her squad. Since arriving as head coach, she has claimed a Pacific Four Series title and held onto the Laurie O’Reilly Cup in style against the Wallaroos.

Saturday’s match day 23 contains 17 players with 15 caps or less. The only player with more among the replacements is co-captain Ruahei Demant, with 22-year-old first-five Hannah King named as a starter after a string of promising performances as a replacement.

“She’s an amazing talent,” Hansen said. “Every time she’s come on for us this year, she’s shown what she can do. So this is this game’s a really cool opportunity to grow her game driving and game management. And she’s really excited for the opportunity.”

Elsewhere, Georgia Ponsonby starts at hooker and is named as Hansen’s other co-captain. South Africa-born centre Amy du Plessis is selected in the Black Ferns midfield.