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Ireland v Black Ferns: What and who do Ireland have to fear?
It would always come down to this.
In October last year for the Rugby World Cup 2025 pool draw, BBC’s Gabby Logan turned to Roman Kemp – with a request.
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‘Please – tell us who is going into Pool C to complete this one?’
The presenter reached, with all the ebullience of a Labrador puppy, into a glossy black cauldron and withdrew a nectarine-sized ping pong ball.
‘Ireland!’
There was a close-up of the orb, and then an instant cut to four young girls in rugby jerseys – stood around a beaming Sam Monaghan. The camera pushed in – and the talismanic lock held her smile.
Perhaps this is dramatic licence, but there was something about the grin. A pinch of spice – the flutter of internal butterflies. In The One Show’s studio, the skipper’s hands were clasped behind her back, but – in her mind – they were rubbing together with relish at the prospect of 80 impending minutes. Before a capacity crowd in Brighton, for top spot in the group, and against a nation who collect World Cups like panini stickers.
Ireland. Black Ferns. Show time.
If Roman were back with us, DJing this article, he’d have dropped Taylor Swift’s ‘Ready for it?’ twice by now.
World Cup history: There have been nine World Cups, New Zealand have contested eight, and they’ve won the thing six times. It was bronze on debut, before – in 2014 – a three-point loss to the Irish consigned them to the fifth-place play-off – in which they, furious, swatted aside all before them. En bref: the Black Ferns are winners – and never more so than when there’s a trophy on the line.
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Because, whilst it’s jaw-dropping that they’ve now played 40 matches on this stage, and lost just two – what’s perhaps even more formidable is that they’ve ran out for six finals – and left each with gold.
Last cycle: It’s because of the above record that we’ll keep this section brief: it doesn’t really matter what this team get up to in between World Cups, because they’ve consistently shown up to the big dance with better moves than anybody else.
Back-to-back WXV1 disappointments – narrow losses to France and Ireland, each accompanied by the customary out-of-World-Cup dispatchings by the Red Rose – and two out of three Pacific Four crowns see them arrive ranked third.
The fun development? They’ve a new bogey team.
Canada have beaten New Zealand in both sevens and 15s in the past 18 months, and the two couldn’t be separated in May – when only an 83rd-minute Sylvia Brunt score and Julia Schell seemingly kicking in Crocs for the afternoon spared Kiwi blushes.
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The Canadians join Ireland, France, and England as nations who have fresh muscle memory of stymying the world champions.
Not that anyone could touch them in Paris 2024, mind – nor on the last three iterations of the SVNS Series.
Head coach: Allan Bunting’s title is ‘Director of Performance’ – part of a clear and conscious effort to present New Zealand’s coaching staff as one entity (he, Tony Christie, Steve Jackson, Daniel Cron, and Riki Flutey were all described as having selected their World Cup squad) – but he is the main man.
A former All Black seven, Bunting was one of the Black Ferns Sevens assistants until 2016, when he took the reigns. In 2019, he split that role with Cory Sweeney – and guided them to a trio of Series titles, and – most importantly – Olympic gold.
Time at the helm of Chiefs Manawa followed, including the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki title (spot a pattern here?), before he was named the national side’s Manager of Culture and Leadership in 2022. We all know what happened that autumn, and he was given the top job the following February.
He came with a three year plan, which culminates this month. To show ‘courage’, to ‘thrive’ – which seems to be working out alright – and ‘to win a World Cup.’
Squad overview: The numbers. 32 Black Ferns. 18 forwards and 14 backs. 16 who struck gold in 2022, alongside 14 earning their tournament debuts. Tyros – like 18-year-old Braxton Sorensen-McGee – through to loosehead Kate Henwood, twice the fullback’s age, and legends like Kelly Brazier – making their mark on a fourth World Cup.
There’s a trio headed to their third, and – don’t let the twinkling smiles fool you – they’re downright scary. Theresa Setefano unpicked opponents at will last time out in New Zealand, and scored as the eventual champions scraped – by a scrap of black fabric – past Les Bleues and into the gold medal match.
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has 22 World Cup tries, and more raw power in her frame than most hurricanes. Stacey Waaka grins like the Cheshire Cat but breaks hearts like Mufasa: she’s scored in two Olympic finals, and reduced the Red Roses’ defence to potpourri at Eden Park in the last World Cup final, with history on the line.
There’s out-and-out, megawatt, drop-your-popcorn stardust right across this squad – from silent assassin Risi Pouri-Lane to human pinball Sylvia Brunt, and back again via the fearless Katelyn Vaha’akolo and an athlete who defies physics, convention, and speed limits on such a regular basis we risk becoming numb to her otherworldly abilities in Jorja Miller.
Of those named above, the Black Ferns were without all but Vaha’akolo and Brunt for WXV1, so Bunting was quite right to observe that they’re ‘a different team now’.
Fun fact: If you’re already familiar with Miller’s twinkle-toed origin story – then take a well-earned minute back for yourself. Spend it rewatching her virtuosic try against Australia in July, or any of her four so far this tournament – or just wondering what we did to deserve Erica Jarrell-Searcy.
But – in case you didn’t know: the loose forward credits her ability to prance around top tier defenders to a childhood spent… Highland dancing. Both her grandmother and mother were avid competitors, and she followed in their sprightly footsteps at the tender age of four – specialising in ‘The Sailor’s Hornpipe.’
Besides an almighty engine, it’s left her with ‘a lot of agility,’ she reckons – ‘bouncy and lateral’, and able to adjust her feet in a split second. Given she’s managing a clean break every 17 minutes – that’s putting it mildly.
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