'I think players got sick of waiting': What makes Black Ferns Sevens so untouchable?

The most successful team in the history of women’s sevens appears on the verge of another evolution.

It’s an ominous thought for their rivals and while we are yet to hit the halfway point in the four-year build up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the two-time defending gold medalist Black Ferns Sevens have started to flex their muscles again.

They sit atop the HSBC SVNS table after four rounds of the regular season and, heading into the next two events in Vancouver and New York, have opened up a gap of four points over great rivals Australia. While four competition points seems minimal it’s the manner of the latest two victories that have once again put teams on notice and made everyone sit further forward in their seats.

The win in the final in Singapore showed their physical dominance, leaving Australia shellshocked at 24-0 at half time before finishing off 36-7. The victory in Perth was different again, conceding early, before once again finding multiple ways to score and run out 29-7 winners. It came after they’d won the opening event in Dubai but were routed by Australia in the Cape Town final.

“After Cape Town we wanted a fresh page so we didn’t dwell too much into it,” says veteran Black Fern Stacey Waaka.“We went away on Christmas break, knowing ‘Yep. That hurt, learn from it, go do what you need to do, come back refreshed’. We touched on a couple of scenarios, where, in certain moments we needed to be better but the coaches just tried to make it as simple as possible knowing that this is a younger group and they can only take in so much information.”

Coach Cory Sweeney says with new players like, Rugby World Cup 2025 try-scoring sensation, Braxton Sorenson-McGee coming in, and the relative inexperience of others, they needed time to build.

“Leading into Dubai we had players coming from leave, players that had been there all the time, players that were coming back from injury and those that had been at the (15s) World Cup so there was probably inconsistencies with physical conditioning and combinations,” said Sweeney.

“Having a block of five or six weeks was really important. Then we probably stripped the game back a little bit and we went a little bit sharper with ‘what is my role?’ and really named that and identified the key criteria and skillsets for each of those.”

Sweeney says that’s allowed them to be a little bit more innovative than they have been for a while.

“Once we simplified those things, we then just started to see the benefit of the narrow focus and that’s allowed us to evolve our game a little bit and to look at the opposition a little bit differently.”

Sweeney adds: “We’ve got really strong foundations, but the thought was, if we buy into this and we fully commit to it, I reckon there’s an opportunity to deceive the opposition or to do something a bit different that they’re not expecting. I think that has been the difference in Perth and Singapore.”

Waaka, part of the leadership group with captain Risi Pouri-Lane and Jorja Miller, says the biggest changes she’s seen from Dubai to Perth is a mindset shift from team-mates like Kelsey Teneti and Mahina Paul.

“They just grew so much in confidence, they knew their role, didn’t overplay their cards and we probably had more possession than we’ve ever had and it was hard for Australia to get moving in those two finals. So yes, while we’ve worked on skill things there’s been an attitude shift in just their belief in themselves and where they fit into the team.”

With Sarah Hirini and Michaela Brake both pregnant, Shiray Kaka on maternity leave and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Kelly Brazier retired, Sweeney says the space has cleared for players who have been part of the squad for a long time to step in.

“There’s always been this dream or vision that you can see the potential in this group, you just didn’t quite know how and how quickly it was going to come together. I think the passion and energy to be better as a group is probably what is separating us from the rest of the world at the moment. People have been sitting behind players for three years waiting for the opportunity and I think they got sick of waiting.”

It’s a group of players who are continuing a legacy that, when you dig into the numbers is staggering.

The Black Ferns Sevens are far and away the most successful team in New Zealand Rugby, with a winning record since returning to the SVNS series post-Covid of 91%. Since their return in April 2022, off the back of their win at the Tokyo Olympics, their match record across the series, Commonwealth Games, Sevens World Cup and Paris Olympics reads: played 172, won 157, lost 14, drawn 1.

Both Sweeney and Waaka believe a key component to this latest evolution is the desire to be a multi-dimensional side, able to play different styles against different oppositions, realising it takes something unique to beat France as it does to beat USA or Australia.

“I think we’re just starting to see the start of that,” says Sweeney. “It takes really good foundation knowledge about role and skillset, as well as real commitment to some of the uncertain and unknown spaces which, if it excites the group, then I think you’re in a really good place. But we’ve also got to be really careful that we don’t go too far because while failing is part of the process, I think momentum comes with confidence and winning provides confidence as well.”

Waaka says given where things are at in the four-year cycle and what other nations are doing with their squad rotations at the moment it feels as if New Zealand and Australia are going to be duking it out in finals for the rest of the season. But she says the sport is developing so rapidly each team is progressing at every event.

“Back in the day, there was one thing on attack – give it our wing, get it to the edge and let them score, but you can’t do that anymore because everyone’s better. I feel like our evolution as a team and our game plan has been quite crucial in the sense that we are better at adapting, and when other teams have that ability to change on the fly and innovate that’s when they stay in it.”

A pointer to that innovation can also be borne out by statistics. New Zealand has set the bar when it comes to turning defensive pressure into points – last season 26% of their tries came directly from a steal but that number has been elevated to 34% so far this season.

Sweeney, who’s been with the squad for a decade says it’s difficult to make direct comparisons to other iterations of the Black Ferns Sevens, but he can see some similarities with the squad that elevated their game post the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“If we stay where we are we’ll get caught and I think everybody buys into that narrative. There certainly are similarities to the 2017 window post Rio where there was a real willingness to go from silver to gold; in that era there was this real connection of people and purpose and those things are evident again.”

But the six-time New Zealand Rugby coach of the year has another observation about his current crop of players that could send a note of alarm around those aiming to dethrone the Black Ferns.

“I’m also seeing a commitment to wanting to do things better or differently than they’ve ever been done before.”

A couple of the blips on their record in recent years came at the 2022 World Cup in Cape Town and the 2024 Grand Final in Madrid. With a reformatted World Championship series on the horizon, that chance to do something better lays just in front of the new look Black Ferns Sevens. You wouldn’t bet against them.

The next leg of the HSBC SVNS Series takes place this weekend from 7-8th March in Vancouver, Canada. New Zealand have been drawn against France, Japan and Great Britain in Pool A.