'Stick with us and follow our journey': USA reflections on tough PAC 4

The six weeks of PAC 4 were an emotional rollercoaster. Our final game against New Zealand isn’t easy to talk about; it was another frustrating result as a whole.

The whole tournament was tough for us, because as I’ve mentioned in previous columns, we know we can do it and we show it to each other, but we haven’t been able to connect those pieces on game day. The Black Ferns are undeniably world-class – individually and as a team.

We put out a pretty good performance against Canada, who are currently number two in the world, so how do we have such a drastic difference against number three in the world? There’s been some self-reflection on the difference in performance against similarly ranked teams.

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

We’ve been going back to the drawing board to try and figure out why, and how we can fix it going forward. Despite the challenges, there were positives to build on from the game, but it’s been a tough two weeks for everybody, coaches included.

We have more games than ever this year. The time together that we know we have coming up has brought us a lot of confidence, even though the World Cup is quickly approaching. PAC 4 was a big wake-up call that we can’t switch off for even a minute in a game.

If we want to be successful at the World Cup and proud of our performances, we need to find a way to stay locked in for the entirety. We have moments where we’re locked in half of a game or a few good training days, but the big task now is maintaining that consistently.

We’ve seen so much improvement in our set piece with the more time we’ve had together. Our forwards have been absolutely crushing it. Our lineouts are complex and gold-standard, and our scrum is really dominant. That has a lot to do with time together.

As for the backs, we have had a lot of variability in our back line with different players and different combos, and it’s because individually we’re all so versatile, which is a blessing and a curse. We all play multiple positions, but right now both the coaching staff and the players are trying to figure out the best combos.

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Some more time together in training camp, come July, will be really helpful for solidifying those. Consistency will be able to help our forwards out, who are really doing a world-class job.

I was in a unique position in PAC 4, where I played every role in the team: starting, on the bench, and non-roster. It’s a positive because it shows I can play any role on the team and make an impact no matter where I am. At the same time, on an individual level, it’s an emotional rollercoaster not knowing where I sit game to game.

My selection is often dependent on the opponent and if my super strengths can help the team in those games. That does make it tricky, but I remind myself that I don’t need to be anyone but me. What I bring to the table is unique; I don’t need to be like every other back-three player in the squad. That’s not going to be what makes the team successful or me successful.

Sione does a good job of reminding me of this. Before each game, he takes a lap around the locker room and gives each player a personalized message. He always says to me: ‘Just be Tess, you don’t have to be anyone else’. I feel like that validation and reminder from him is really helpful, that I can just do what I’m good at, and I don’t have to try to be a player I’m not.

That helps ground me and my training a lot. I don’t need to reinvent the wheel when I’m training at home this month, just stick to my process, keeping up my fitness, focusing a lot on my kicking, and hopefully coming in sharper at the next camp.

We had Steve Brett start working with us as a kicking coach at the beginning of PAC 4. As a program, we’d been asking for a kicking coach for years, and having that expertise has made a big difference.

He was on site with us for a few weeks and then has been working remotely. A lot of people have improved under his guidance, and it’s been a huge step forward in our program. Sione has a lot of kicking drills lined up for me, so I’ll be sending some film to Steve over the next few weeks.

Our coaches have so much to look at during training, so now having a kicking coach who can pull you aside after training to talk about kicks is helpful, and it’s the small things, those 1% gains, that are going to make the biggest difference come the World Cup.

During PAC 4, we also had a sports psychologist in camp for the first time. He came in to work on the full team culture compared to more individual, but going into the World Cup, that will shift to a more individual focus. The more resources we have, the better.

The thing about mental skills and sports psychology is, there’s not one answer for everybody, and there’s not one person for everybody. If one player on our team benefits from us bringing in a sports psych, then it’s worth it. More than anything, he made us reflect on our process, team culture, and our ‘why’, provoking a lot of valuable thought.

An overriding positive from the tour was how incredible the fans were. We signed hundreds of autographs, they didn’t care what jersey you wore; they were just so excited to meet international rugby players.

A lot of the young girls in the crowd in New Zealand had made red, white, and blue friendship bracelets and were handing them out, which was really sweet. It was really cool to see the growth of the game, even since we last played there.

Our jersey ceremony before the Black Ferns game was also pretty special. We typically try to have Eagles alumni present the jerseys, but being in the Southern Hemisphere, there aren’t too many USA Eagles in the area!

We had Erin Rush, Black Fern #113, present our jerseys, which was special. She and our coach, Mel Bosman, were teammates back in the day. Erin is now the Vice President of New Zealand Rugby, and she gave such a wonderful presentation talking about how far rugby has come.

It didn’t matter that she was a Black Fern and wore a different jersey; she was giving us such nice insight into the pride we should have wearing an international crest on our shirts, and treating each game like a gift. It was special to have someone outside of our team group but within the women’s rugby umbrella present our jerseys.

On the flight home, I ended up sitting next to my good buddy Olivia Ortiz. When I initially walked onto the plane and was looking for my seat, I spotted Sione in my row, but he decided he wanted an aisle seat, so he switched.

I would have no problem sitting next to Sione, and jokingly asked if he had a problem with me to cause the seat change. It was a good laugh before a long journey, but it was nice to be able to sit next to Olivia for the 18-hour flight!

We landed back from New Zealand last Monday, which was Memorial Day. I got back at 5 am and headed straight to the beach to spend time with my friends. It sounds like a lot, but it was just what I needed after being away from home for so long.

My family are so supportive of me and I’m looking forward to spending quality time with them, including my young nieces and nephews who I don’t see too often when I’m away playing rugby. We live by a lake, so I’ll definitely be spending time there swimming, boating, and fishing and enjoying the summer at home in New Jersey before getting back to work.

From the start of WXV last September, it’s been full on, playing WXV 1, PWR, WER, then to PAC 4 consecutively. It’s been a whirlwind of almost a year, so I’m taking a few weeks to regroup mentally and physically. The World Cup is the priority, so I will be getting back to running and lifting quite soon.

With the WER league still going on, it’s been up to the national team players to evaluate where they’re at and if they have capacity for more game time after a busy season. At this point, I’m still taking a bit of a break. New York Exiles have a bye week this week, which is well-timed for me, so I’m going to reset and see how I’m feeling in the coming weeks and if I’ll finish out the season with them.

Even though PAC 4 was difficult at points, I still wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. A lot of the team feel like that; it is hard and it is a grind and it’s tiring, but we all feel like we’re exactly where we’re meant to be, and we all feel like this is what we want to do as a collective.

I saw something online the other day that helped me gain a better perspective. It discussed how when we first started being passionate about something like playing rugby, we didn’t fall in love with outcomes, we fell in love with the process of becoming, the grind and the unpredictability of it all. We all need to return to that reason why we play, and not let results dictate our future. If we all buy into that, the outcomes will start coming.

This month is going to be a really good reset for all of us. We don’t necessarily want to chase results, we want to be in a system where we’re flowing, and we’re in the zone and we’re being us. When we focus on that, the results will naturally come.

We know we believe in ourselves, and we just want all of our supporters and fans to continue to believe in us and support us, because I know we’ll be successful going forward. Stick with us and follow our journey. All eyes are now on our game against Fiji; we’re resilient, we’ll move forward, and we’re ready to hit the ground running when we get back in camp.