Ruahei Demant: 'They were a quality side then and are still a quality side now'
Ruahei Demant went from an uncertain Black Ferns second five in 2021 to a Rugby World Cup-winning captain in 2022.
The 2022 World Rugby Player of the Year moved inwards to ten and in just 159 days helped transform the Black Ferns from fragile losers to vibrant, fearless, national heroes.
Between June 6 and November 12, a dozen consecutive wins were achieved, including the glorious and transformative 34-31 upset of England in the World Cup final at Eden Park.
In front of 42,579 adoring fans the Red Roses seemingly endless winning streak was dramatically halted on 30. The Black Ferns only led for 13 minutes.
The momentum of Demant has continued in 2023 again nominated for World Rugby Player of the Year. She was imperious during the Black Ferns Pacific 4 title triumph breaking the most tackles (18), making the joint-most line-breaks (6) and breakdown steals (4). New Zealand scored 141 points in three games.
Additionally, she led Auckland to their first Farah Palmer Cup Premiership success since 2015. In the final against Canterbury, she scored the last try in a 39-27 victory in Christchurch.
With such success, has Demant’s approach to leadership changed?
“I hope I haven’t changed too much. I’m very grateful that we have a great group of leaders who led in different ways. There is a lot of diversity in our leadership group so a lot of the responsibility you’d assume co-captains have, I don’t feel because of the strong leaders surrounding us,” Demant told Rugby Pass.
Such a response is typical of Demant who’s leadership style harnesses collaboration to try and get individuals to express the best of themselves.
On Saturday at the Go Media Stadium Mount Smart in Auckland, the Black Ferns must beat England while picking up more or the same number of bonus points to capture the inaugural WXV 1 title. It’s the first meeting between the countries since the Rugby World Cup final almost a year ago.
England remains a formidable beast. They have won all nine Tests in 2023 and have prevailed in 57 of their last 60 internationals. Their lineout drive is kryptonite. Hooker Lark Atkin-Davies scored a world record four tries in a 45-12 hammering of Canada on Friday. That followed a 42-7 mauling of Australia.
England boasts 525 more caps than the Black Ferns. Demant is the most experienced local with 32 Tests. England captain Marile Packer has 98 caps.
“The only thing we do focus on, when we compare last year to this year is that they were a quality side then and are still a quality side now,” Demant said.
“We’ve looked inwards more and asked how can we as individuals and as a team be in the best position possible to combat what they’re going to throw against us?”
The Black Ferns haven’t been without adversity this season. They surrendered their 16-match winning streak when they were toppled by France (18-17) in Wellington a fortnight ago. Prop Chryss Viliko was sent off. In a 39-17 win against the USA, they played with 14 players for 78 minutes after halfback Iritana Hohaia saw red.
“That was a gift because it gave us an opportunity. We thought we had a plan, but we had to adjust a bit. We’ve planned for a lot of ‘what ifs.’ We know what playing with 14 or 13 looks like. We trust our process and each other,” Demant said.
Such meticulous planning wasn’t possible in the past but as full-time professionals with more resources than ever, Demant believes the Black Ferns “Rugby IQ” has expanded enormously.
Different coaches bring specific strengths that expand ideas and create “better reading of pictures and solutions” within a game. Good habits around diet, gym and video analysis are becoming more ingrained.
Preparation and positivity are hallmarks of Demant who provided a rare insight into the Black Ferns game plan (which appears largely unchanged) in Smithy – Wayne Smith with Phil Gifford.
“Initially, the work we did was more around the execution of our skill sets, setting high standards there, rather than tactical stuff. He made footy so simple, and such fun. He always said that he wanted us to play with our minds free, and to play with joy.
“We’d work on shaping the opposition so that when you wanted to move the ball wide and play to the edge, you first had to suck them into being narrow. It was like a game of chess in many ways.
“We pretty much stopped kicking the ball out. All our kicks had to be either three-bounce kicks, or they had to be kick passes, where you could retain the ball. We didn’t even have a name for a long kick downfield for territory because we didn’t ever kick one.”
Whether the Black Ferns can once again topple England in, as England lock Rosie Galligan put it ‘the biggest fixture in the women’s game’ remains to be seen, but all fans will be watching eagerly to see if the world champions can once again undo the number one team in the world this Saturday.
Comments on RugbyPass
I’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
139 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
139 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
139 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
139 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
139 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
139 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
139 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
139 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
139 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
139 Go to commentsHo hum.
139 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
139 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
139 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
139 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
139 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
139 Go to comments