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Stacey Waaka: ‘When you’re wearing that jersey, you fight to the death’
By Finn Morton at Ashton Gate, Bristol
Stacey Waaka has opened up about the Black Ferns’ unrelenting determination and desire to fight right up until the final whistle against Canada in Bristol, even when their 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup semi-final had been lost.
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New Zealand have won six of the last seven editions of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. They are the most successful side in the tournament’s history, with England taking their seat on the champions’ throne twice, and the USA winning the first-ever event in 1991.
Canada have earned the right to challenge for championship glory next weekend in the World Cup final against either England or France. Whoever loses that semi-final on Saturday afternoon will face the New Zealanders in a fierce battle for third.
Allan Bunting told RugbyPass that it felt like the Black Ferns had “let your country down” about an hour after the final whistle, but the Director of Performance remains supremely proud of the playing group, saying they “tried their best to climb back.”
While Canada raced out to a commanding 24-7 lead early in the first half, the Black Ferns struck back with two tries of their own. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u and Braxton Sorensen-McGee crashed over, and Risi Pouri-Lane almost added another five points to the team’s score later in the half.
“Anyone that represents their country knows that you fight right until the end no matter what the score. You have to be resilient. You have to show humility. You can’t give up, never give up,” Waaka said.
“When you’re wearing that jersey, you fight to the death, for your family, for your friends, for your country. That was the game plan, to speed it up to try and score on a high. We knew we weren’t going to win, but we were just trying to win amazing moments and memories out there.”
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Goal-kicking lock Sophie de Goede converted a 73rd minute penalty, which extended Canada’s lead to 15 with time almost up. As Waaka alluded to, the Black Ferns never stopped fighting, but the damage had been done on the scoreboard.
Canada opened the scoring in the seventh minute through Justine Pelletier, before Asia Hogan-Rochester ran in for another try only moments later. Florence Symonds had the Maple Leafs in the box seat with another score midway through the half, with Canada leading 17-0.
Tanya Kalounivale got the Black Ferns on the scoreboard next, but de Goede quickly cancelled out that effort with a runaway try. It was a 17-point game at the break, before Canada’s captain Alex Tessier crossed early in the second term.
“I think there were a few different parts. First of all was our breakdown area, Canada were really clinical. We knew that they were going to pick-and-go,” Waaka explained.
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“We knew that they were hunting around our breakdown. That’s probably been a weakness for us, but happy for them. They obviously exploited us in that area, we weren’t fronting up.
“We’re probably a bit narrow in our defence at times, so sometimes we thought they were going to do a pick-and-go and they went out wide.”