How Whitney Hansen plans to separate the Black Ferns from the pack

Whitney Hansen has shared what she believes will be “the key difference” between the Black Ferns and their top rivals if they are to reclaim their place atop the rugby world.

Hansen’s New Zealand put France to the sword on Saturday afternoon in Hamilton, scoring 81 points in a ruthless display to bounce back from their last-second loss to England last month.

After claiming their first win over Canada in two years earlier this season, the Kiwis’ results suggest they’re just a shade off the pace set by the world champions, England.

The six-time world champions have a young group whose execution let them down at Twickenham, scoring just 1.3 points per 22m entry. That figure jumped to four points per 22m entry in Hamilton.

Speaking with the media after the match, Hansen said the difference between the two performances was purely mental.

“I think a big part of it is, at this level, you’ve got the players, and they have the skill set, and we’ve shown that we’ve got the game plan, so a big part of it comes down to your mental performance. And I think that starts with how you prepare, how you own that performance process.

“We’ve had a really young group who have not had a lot of support in that space previously, so we’ve really dug into that: what is it in your week that’s going to bring you confidence and allow you to execute those moments?

“And then I think when you’re in it, how do you stay on? There are so many different distractions in those spaces, and they’re all different for everyone. So is it a mistake? Is it your last game in front of 60,000? Is that a distraction? You’re learning from that all of the time, so not leaving those learnings behind.

“And then if something does go wrong, how do you reset, how do you get back as quickly as you can? Those defensive momentum moments, we’ll take some learnings out of that today; that’s a great example of who was able to manage their mindset in that space and bring themselves back.

“I think that’s probably the key difference that we’re talking about now: all teams have the skills, all teams in the top four have the players, but who’s got mental performance is a point of difference.”