LONG READ 'We're fitter, faster, stronger' - The day Ireland stunned the Black Ferns

During the 2010 World Cup, players from the Ireland and New Zealand squads stayed at Surrey University. Ireland missed out on the semi-final due to points difference, and would eventually finish seventh overall. The Black Ferns would go on to win their fourth straight World Cup.

“[Ireland centre] Lynne Cantwell knew some of the New Zealand girls and introduced us,” recalls former Ulster and Ireland centre, Grace Davitt. “They spoke to us about their rugby backgrounds and traditions. We got on really well, the two sets of players, and the New Zealand girls were saying, ‘We’d love to play you. We really like your style of rugby’.”

Before both countries faced off at the 2014 World Cup, they had not met in a Test match. New Zealand played their first women’s matches in 1989 and competitive matches at the 1991 World Cup. Ireland’s first women’s Test match was in February 1993 against Scotland. In the 21 years that followed, the two countries never collided. “England would supply the finances,” Davitt explains, “so they got to test themselves against the best.” During that same period, England and New Zealand would play each other 22 times.

“New Zealand didn’t know what to expect when they faced us,” says Davitt. “We were this little Irish team. We had won the Six Nations Grand Slam the previous year, but were still coming in under the radar. On our side, every player knew what to expect from them. We had all been prepped. Myself and Nora Stapleton [Ireland’s fly-half] would sit together for hours and watch footage of them – how they set up attacks, where they would launch strike-plays, who favoured stepping off what foot, who took risks.

“We told ourselves, ‘We’re fitter, faster and stronger. They’re not as prepared as we are’.”

Those sentiments are backed by Ali Miller, the Connacht and Ireland winger who would play such a massive role in the pool stage encounter at Marcoussis, in France.

“We had a team that had to fight for everything, on and off the pitch,” says Miller. “Most of the team that played New Zealand were on that trip to France, in 2012, when we had to travel 800 kilometres over 17 hours, overnight, on a train, to play a Six Nations game. We were always fighting our cause. Nothing ever came easy. We were trying to get media attention through our performances. We had faced a lot of adversity in the group.

Joe’s sessions have stayed with me to this day. He worked a lot around the breakdown, speed of ruck and those body-ball tackles that steal teams’ momentum.

“In that 2012 Six Nations, we would put it up to the best sides for 60 minutes then fall off. We finished third but had pushed France and England close. We told ourselves if we got fitter, and put everything into it, we could beat anyone in the world. Marian Earls came in as strength and conditioning coach, and we started to see the benefits. Faster, fitter, stronger. That was our mantra.”

The World Cup format for 2014 was three pools of four, with the three pool winners and best runner-up qualifying for the semi-finals. Ireland and New Zealand had beaten the USA and Kazakhstan, respectively, in their opening games. Four days later, they faced off in the suburbs of Paris.

“The pressure is on New Zealand,” declared Ross Harries, on commentary duty with former Munster and Racing coach, Simon Mannix. “Ireland will give it a whirl.”

Up in the crowd, at Centre National du Rugby, was Johnny Sexton, playing with Racing 92 at the time, and Ireland men’s head coach, Joe Schmidt. Philip ‘Goose’ Doyle and Greg McWilliams were the main coaches, but the Kiwi had helped in World Cup preparations that summer back home. “Joe’s sessions have stayed with me to this day,” says Davitt. “He worked a lot around the breakdown, speed of ruck and those body-ball tackles that steal teams’ momentum.”

Looking back on the game, Davitt and Miller, at different stages, name-check every Ireland player involved on the day. Both rave about outside centre, Cantwell, “She was unbelievable,” says Davitt. “Eighty-six caps won and the epitome of Irish rugby. So much knowledge. So calm.”

“Lynne was great for me,” Miller adds. “Constantly talking and organising, in attack and defence. She always said to me, ‘You’re electric. You can do anything’. Whenever we played together, she would find ways to get me as much ball possible.”

The opening 20 minutes were dominated by Ireland, with match officials missing Black Ferns blindside Rawinia Everitt breaking from an under-pressure scrum to prevent Ireland grounding the ball over her try line. Referee Leah Berard ordered a scrum reset and told Ireland captain Fiona Coghlan: “Don’t argue with me. That’s what I said. I’m trying to help you.”

Schmidt would later note Ireland getting on with the game after such a vital missed call had left him thinking, “Woah, this is a different mentality here.”

Still, missing what would have been a penalty-try infringement only stung more for Ireland when, on 26 minutes, Selica Winiata cruised over for a try that put New Zealand 8-0 ahead. Ireland full-back Niamh Briggs recalls Coghlan settling her teammates under the posts, and telling them the next score would be Ireland’s. So it proved, on 34 minutes, when Heather O’Brien dived and touched the ball off the base of the posts. Briggs converted and Ireland trailed 8-7.

“That score was crucial,” says Davitt, “but there was no panic being behind at the break. We told ourselves we would wear them down – fitter, faster, stronger. We said we’ll keep taking the ball and going around the corner. It doesn’t matter who it is we’re carrying into. As our 12, I was the battering ram. I got high-sided on a couple of carries. I remember their 13 (Huriana Manuel) caught me in the sternum with an elbow.

We had put our bodies on the line. I remember we had a selection session, two days after the game, and I was crying from the pain during it.

“I was in the changing room, getting water in, gel shots. Trying to get the sugar reload. I was sore as hell, but trying to shut that thinking off. Bigging myself up for what was to come. Then Greg McWilliams (our assistant coach) came to me and said Jenny Murphy is coming on. I nodded my head, but my whole body was going, ‘Oh, thank God!’

“That was the way our team worked – you did your job then let your team-mate do theirs. Who better to come on than Jenny for the second half? She made some brilliant carries and was really effective as they were getting fatigued. It was so different to watch the second half on the sidelines and not be able to do anything about it, but the girls did great.”

In the first 10 minutes, after the break, Murphy and Claire Molloy would team up for three turnovers as Ireland sought to weather a Black Ferns flurry. Kelly Brazier kicked her side 11-7 ahead before scrum-half Tania Rosser held up Winiata, over the Irish tryline, to prevent another score. “Ireland hanging on in there,” Harries observed.

The scrambling defence and breakdown turnovers were big, but the clearing kicks of Briggs were positively huge. “Niamh’s range of kicking out of hand was just immense,” says Miller. “Every time you’d need a big exit, or to get way up the pitch, she’d step up. She’d get you out of so much trouble.”

Miller and Briggs would combine for the game’s most memorable score. The winger came up with two turnover wins in the space of two minutes as New Zealand’s attack faltered. The Black Ferns’ Renee Wickliffe tried a chip and chase just past the hour mark, but the ball sat up for Briggs, and she was off – stepping two players and drawing in Brazier before putting Miller away up the left wing.

“I had played a bit with Niamh at WIT (Waterford Institute of Technology) and knew when she got the ball in space something was going to happen, so you just had to stay with her.

“I was always a self-doubter off the pitch – asking myself if I was truly good enough. Once I was out there and got the ball in my hands, though, it all washed away. I was so much different. I remember shaping to cut back in, then going around the outside of [Emma] Jensen. As I got by her, it was like, ‘Oh, my legs are going. I’m going to get caught!’ But I had just enough momentum to get over before the covering tackle came in.”

Briggs would follow that try assist up with a superb touchline conversion, and Ireland led 14-11. Brazier’s penalty levelled matters soon after, but Ireland were firmly back in the groove. Ashleigh Baxter and Paul Fitzpatrick made strong carries to drive deep into Black Ferns territory before a breakdown penalty offered Briggs a chance to restore the lead.

Over on the sidelines, Ireland replacement Fiona Hayes stood clutching Seamus, a knitted leprechaun doll that was the team’s lucky mascot, as Briggs lined up her kick. Over it went and Ireland had a three-point lead that would see them home for a famous victory.

There was time to celebrate, but not much. Ireland had another game, four days later, against Kazakhstan, they needed to win. Five of the starting XV from the Black Ferns win were out from the first whistle again. “It was so hard on your body,” Davitt recalls. “I was so sore after that New Zealand game. We had put our bodies on the line. I remember we had a selection session, two days after the game, and I was crying from the pain during it.

“The fact so many players (12) were involved in all three pool games could’ve been a detriment when we played England in the semi-finals, physically and mentally. It was our fourth game in 12 days. We stuck with them for 36 minutes, then imploded. Ireland now have that strength in depth that should stand to them at this World Cup.”

That defeat was the last one a Black Ferns team has suffered at a World Cup. They had won 20 in a row, before facing Ireland, and have since won 12, with two more world titles (2017 and 2021) secured along the way.

The glaring shame for Ireland was their union not using 2014’s semi-final run as the catalyst for greater investment in the women’s game. Preparations for the 2017 World Cup, which Ireland hosted, were piecemeal and they failed to qualify for the 2021 tournament before an uproar from players (active and retired), supporters and the media helped force a change in thinking.

Perhaps the greatest legacy from 2014 is the generation of young girls it inspired. Many of the fans who watched Ireland beat the Black Ferns are in the current squad. Edel McMahon was at Marcoussis that day, while Eve Higgins met the team at Dublin Airport when they arrived home from the tournament. Eimear Corri Fallon, who showed up in running spikes for her first ever rugby training session, can give you the complete play-by-play of Miller’s try, if you ask. Even if you don’t ask.

“I always knew, even during those dark years,” says Miller, “if we got ourselves organised and properly funded that the girls could take on the best. I love this Ireland team. The girls, now, are going out there and backing up everything they say.”