Whitney Hansen assesses Black Ferns' performance ahead of Red Roses

Despite continuing their 100 per cent win record under Whitney Hansen, the Black Ferns believe they must make key improvements ahead of next weekend’s blockbuster against England.

Hansen’s side outclassed Scotland at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Sunday morning, 66-14, scoring ten tries to two in a dominant second-half performance.

Scotland were no match for New Zealand’s brutality with ball in hand, while the Blacks Ferns’ electrifying outside backs proved why they can be so dangerous when given opportunities.

The Kiwis dotted down for four unanswered seven-pointers in the second half, with Braxton Sorensen McGee and Hannah King adding the extras from a range of areas on the field.

It didn’t all come easy, though, as Hansen admitted to reporters post-match in Edinburgh.

“Yeah, well, I think there’s a lot of things that Georgia [Ponsonby] has talked about and around watching some exciting Black Ferns footy, but I think also for us, you know, we had eight changes,” Hansen said.

“I think it was, in the end, to our starting lineup, what we’ve typically been putting out, and we did that because we needed the rest of our group to feel pressure, and Scotland certainly brought that for us in that first half, and you know that’s a real success to now have that.

“Though at times probably we were a little bit clunky because of that, but again, we wanted them to feel those moments. We wanted everyone to be ready for what’s to come, not only this year but Lions next year, and then build into the 2029 World Cup. So yeah, excited to see them get those minutes.”

Heading into the last ten minutes of the first half, the Black Ferns led by ten points before breaking the game open with two quick-succession tries from Layla Sae and Amy Du’Plessis.

The Black Ferns head coach, who is yet to lose a game as head coach of this side, pinpointed the period before halftime and the first 15 minutes after as a changing point in the contest.

“Yeah, I think you know sometimes you’re able to finish on the end of tries, and sometimes you’re not. And I think outside of the outcome of points, we’ll look at our processes, and we’ll look at our performance and go, where do we keep momentum? Where do we give it away?

“And even within those tries, there’s some space to be better, and we’re building week to week, and for any team we play against, the week before won’t be good enough for the next week.

“If we’re chasing, great. So we’ll take away those workloads, and we’ll be better again for those next week.”