Stacey Waaka’s message for Black Ferns: ‘Don’t try and shy away from it’

Two-time Rugby World Cup-winner Stacey Waaka has encouraged the Black Ferns to embrace the pressure that comes with knockout rugby, as the defending champions prepare for a quarter-final showdown with the Springbok Women.

New Zealand secured the top seed out of their pool after knocking off Ireland 40-0 last time out in Brighton, which followed comprehensive wins over Spain at York Community Stadium and Japan at Exeter’s Sandy Park.

Braxton Sorensen-McGee has been one of the standouts from the pool stage, with the 18-year-old scoring back-to-back hat-tricks. Sorensen-McGee actually scored six tries in those three appearances, starting twice on the right wing and once at fullback.

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HSBC SVNS Series stars Jorja Miller and Risi Pouri-Lane are potentially just days away from playing their first knockout match at a 15s World Cup. There’s some invaluable experience in the squad too, featuring the likes of Waaka, Ruahei Demant and Kennedy Tukuafu.

While the Black Ferns have played at their quarter-final venue before – returning to Sandy Park, where they defeated Japan 62-19 –  knockout rugby is a different beast, but Waaka has called on her teammates to not “shy away” from the occasion.

“The biggest things is telling the girls to embrace everything that it brings. There’s more people in the stadium, it’s louder, there’s more pressure and all the outside noise,” Waaka told reporters in Exeter on Tuesday.

“You have to think of it coolly and don’t try and shy away from it; don’t try to block it out. It’s more about seeing it, hearing it, feeling it and feeling like you are ready for the challenge.

“The noise won’t go away so you might as well deal with it somehow and continue playing their game.”

Knockout

11 - 12

Final

6 - 44

SF1

15 - 16

SF2

17 - 29

QF1

24 - 28

QF2

30 - 24

QF3

28 - 29

QF4

New Zealand will take a wealth of confidence out of their last pool match, having beaten Ireland emphatically at Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium. Sorensen-McGee scored three of the team’s six tries, which started with Waaka.

Sorensen-McGee drew in defenders before getting the ball off to Waaka, who was standing near the right sideline unmarked. Waaka had enough pace to run in for the score without any trouble, as the Black Ferns took a 5-0 lead in the 14^th minute.

Chrys Viliko crashed over for another five-pointer soon after, before Sorensen-McGee scored yet another World Cup try to round out the half. After another two from the winger, Maia Joseph had the final say – finishing off a spectacular ‘team try’ in the final play of the match.

“We knew from week one to where we are now, we were never going to be perfect. We knew we wanted to build slowly, we saw some stats about handling errors in the first game were around 20, and we halved that in the last game,” Waaka said.

“I don’t think 40-0 reflects the game too much but we are grateful for that! We are happy with when we have had the ball. A few errors and penalties that will probably be costly in the big games like the quarters and semis.”