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Mel Bosman: 'We need to put a lot of points on the board'
By Joe Harvey
“I checked my watch and my heart rate was steady at 70 beats per minute.”
Somehow Mel Bosman managed to remain calm as the USA Women’s Eagles drew 31-31 with Australia last Saturday night.
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The assistant coach is not only charged with leading the Eagles’ forward pack but also runs the water for Sione Fukofuka’s side.
So on Saturday night amid a maelstrom of pouring rain, high drama and missed conversions, Bosman went through every moment with her players as they tried to keep their 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign alive.
“I think in moments like that, that’s good for the players,” Bosman said.
“Because we’re battling, we’re trying to find that spot where we can go through to the quarter-finals.
“We wanted to put it to bed that night. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the job done. But we have earned ourselves a right to fight for it very hard this weekend.”
Last Saturday night the lead see-sawed from start to finish, when Erica Jarrell-Searcy crossed the whitewash in the 71st minute it seemed as though the USA had finally done enough to catapult themselves into the knockout rugby conversation.
It had already been a positive night’s work for the Eagles, who had seen 21-year-old flanker Fred Tafuna score a hat-trick of tries, as well as efforts from front-row duo Keia Mae Sagapolu and Hope Rogers.
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When Eva Karpani dotted down in the 74th minute and Samantha Wood’s conversion missed its mark, it meant that the Americans’ hopes of competing in the last eight weigh completely on this weekend’s clash with Samoa at York Community Stadium.
“To some extent there was disappointment,” Bosman said of her team’s feeling at full-time. “When we last played them in the PAC4 (Pacific Four Series) they beat us quite convincingly (27-19) and we were always going in as the underdog. Which, in my opinion, is the best position to be in.
“We wanted to win it. There will be disappointment in the fact that we didn’t get the job done on Saturday, but also a mindset shift that we can get it done this Saturday. It’s not off the table yet.”
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In this weekends’ opponents, Samoa, the Eagles will come up against a team that have quickly become crowd favourites at the World Cup.
As a team who have entered the tournament as complete amateurs, the side have battled against the Wallaroos and England in the opening two games, the side have shown relentless spirit in the face of 73-0 and 92-3 losses.
To keep their World Cup dreams alive the USA need to rack up a big bonus point against the Pacific Islanders and hope that England’s Red Roses put Australia to the sword in Brighton to get a second place finish in Pool A.
Currently a 135 point gulf separates the USA from Jo Yapp’s Australians on points difference and the Eagles know that they have a stern challenge ahead of them this weekend. It is one they are motivated for.
Ahead of kicking off the World Cup against England at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, Eagles captain Kate Zackary spoke about the team’s semi-final ambitions and even in the wake of their 69-7 loss to the Red Roses in the north east, Hope Rogers was bullish about what the future had in store.
“We know in ourselves that we want to get to the quarter-finals,” Bosman said. “We’re good enough to get to the quarter-finals. We are just taking the energy from the room and turning the mirror on ourselves and saying that this is about us.
“It is not about our opposition. It is about what we can control. Our process. Our systems. We’ve worked incredibly hard for the past couple of years to get to this place.
“The mood in the team, it’s strong. There’s a lot of calm in the space and that’s not a bad thing. It’s quite a good thing from my experience. Leading up to this game we know exactly what the job is that we need to do. We are chasing points, and we need to put a lot of points on the board.”
It has been just shy of two years since Bosman first became involved with the Eagles.
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The New Zealander has built a formidable reputation as a coach with the Tasman Mako and as an assistant coach of the Hurricanes Poua in Super Rugby Aupiki.
At this tournament the 49-year-old’s fingerprints can be seen across a number of the Eagles’ standout performances. Erica Jarrell-Searcy’s two outings in England have seen the lock’s stock rise exponentially, two time MA Sorensen winner Freda Tafuna has begun to see her star recognised on the world stage and the likes of Kate Zackary, Rachel Johnson and Hope Rogers have continued to show that they are some of the most consistent operators in Test rugby.
In the past it was apparent for plenty to see that these players had world class qualities. But it has only been since Bosman’s influence that players have been more vocal about their ambition to be regarded among the best in the world.
Pre-World Cup Hope Rogers discussed her desire to be known as the best loosehead prop in women’s rugby. She had already been named in the World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year twice.
That increase in confidence is largely down to Bosman. A two-time World Cup winner in her own playing days, the Kiwi endeavours to bring the very best out of her players with each interaction.
“They were quite a closed book when I first worked with them,” she said. “I’m a person that will say what I believe. I’m very transparent and I’m honest in spaces of coaching.
“I’ve had experiences as a player with good coaching and coaching that really challenged me as a person. I’ve compiled that experience and really wanted to be the coach that I wished I had when I was coming through the ranks.
“I don’t ever pretend to have my ducks in a row or have everything together. I don’t pretend to be perfect. When I’m feeling vulnerable. I will wear my heart on my sleeve.
“I’ve learned in the past through heartache at home, recently losing Shane Christie, that if I try to pretend I’ve got it all together and I’m not going to be the best person for them when they need me most.
“That’s something in my environment in the coaching space that I make sure it’s very genuine or it doesn’t work.”
There has also been a full circle element for Bosman coaching at this World Cup. It was 15 years ago that she was the Black Ferns’ starting tighthead prop as the side won their fourth World Cup title in as many tournaments. It was also the last World Cup in England.
A decade and a half later women’s rugby and women’s sport has changed significantly. At the 2010 World Cup final she played in front of a crowd of 13,253 at the Twickenham Stoop and ran the water at this year’s tournament opener in front of 42,723 supporters in Sunderland.
Stood there on the touchline of a stadium thousands of miles from home, Bosman got to bask in the glow of a record-breaking night in the and reflect on how far the game has come since her debut as a 14-year-old wing in 1990 for Wellington.
“I had a touch of pride to be honest,” she said. “Not only was it wonderful to be a participant in it, not needing to have a very fit body, but as someone who has been part of the thread of the women’s game for 35 years.
“It was a really proud moment. I did sort of have a time of reflection on the sideline when the players were in the changing rooms to say; wow, the game has so far.
“15 years ago the crowd would have been a third or a quarter of what it was. But the energy in the people participating was exactly the same. Exactly the same.”