Black Ferns midfielder Stacey Fluhler, off the field and nursing a suspected broken ankle suffered when setting up what turned out to be the match-winning try against England, couldn’t watch the last two minutes of perhaps one of the best World Cup finals ever played.
“I was on the sideline burying my head in my hands,” she said afterwards.
It may have been one of the few moments during this thrilling World Cup that Fluhler wasn’t smiling.
She smiled when scoring one of the tries of the tournament after halftime in a classic breakout move also featuring fullback Renee Holmes, and smiled after providing the acrobatic pass off the pitch for replacement wing Ayesha Leti-I’iga to score the try which put the Black Ferns 34-31 up inside the final 10 minutes. She was even smiling as she walked assisted from the field, her night done.
It may have been the ovation from the more than 42,500 present which prompted the grin but either way in playing so well through the knockout phase in particular, Fluhler, a back-to-back World Cup champion, has now become a household name in New Zealand alongside Portia Woodman, Ruby Tui, Ruahei Demant, Holmes, and the rest.
Lock Joanah Ngan-Woo will forever be linked with the crucial lineout steal in the final moment when she jumped ahead of England’s Abbie Ward to defuse the threat of their fearsome driving maul and halt the Red Roses’ incredible winning run at 30 consecutive Tests.
Hooker Georgia Ponsonby will be known as the Black Ferns’ first try-scorer in the Test – and how her teammates celebrated the score that cut England’s advantage to 14-7.
The two tries from Woodman's 23-year-old replacement Leti-I’iga, Tui’s workrate and grace and charisma on the microphone afterwards, prop Krystal Murray’s handling skills and, in particular, her safety in snatching Ngan-Woo’s precious lineout steal – they are just some of the memories the world record crowd will have taken away from a match which felt like a defining moment for women’s rugby worldwide.
“To sell out Eden Park has been a dream of ours for a long time,” Fluhler said. “I have so many emotions going through my mind. I’m obviously gutted I had to come off a little bit early but it’s all part of sport.”
She added of her injury: “I said I’d break a leg for this team and I literally broke my ankle. We’ll be right, I’ve got six weeks holiday after this so I’ve got heaps of time to recover.
“It’s all worth it."
She added of the Black Ferns intent after turning at 26-19 behind: “We talked at halftime about continuing to play with freedom and heart. We knew there was space out wide because they had one player down, obviously red carded. We wanted to expose that and we managed to do it. I was at the right place at the right time and managed to dot down.”
The absence of Woodman, the Black Ferns’ top strike weapon, may have been a defining moment too and not in a good way for the defending champions, but Leti-I’iga was determined it would be for the different reasons.
“I didn’t expect to go on that early but I was prepared no matter the circumstances,” she said.
“Wayne Smith calls me the 'Detonator' and I know that when I go on the field I’m there to make a difference and give it my all.”
She sure did. So did Ngan-Woo, the lock who watched as England scored four tries from driving mauls – hooker Amy Cokayne scored three of them – and put the lessons to good use in the final minute.
“It was crazy, I guess that’s just the type of stuff we do every day at training,” she said. “I guess you just had to do it again and it just happened to be in a World Cup final. It’s the bread-and-butter stuff that matters.
“We talked about having the courage, so I guess that’s what we did. I still can’t believe we just won the World Cup.
“We’ve been doing our analysis on their lineout for a week – especially on Abbie who is their main jumper. Watching it from the bench I could see it before so I knew what was coming.”
Fluhler, damaged ankle briefly forgotten, ran on to the field as the Black Ferns began their frenzied celebrations, their well-documented pain of late last year consigned to the past.
It is the most remarkable of comeback stories.
Kendra Cocksedge, the little halfback now retired from the game, said: “It hasn’t sunk in quite yet – in might in the next couple of days.
“There’s a lot of belief in this team, a lot of heart. We’re probably only sitting at about 75 per cent of our full potential.”
Apart from celebrating, what does Fluhler want now?
“I want more of that to happen. The growth of this game – I want more people to come and buy Black Ferns tickets to support us because look what we managed to showcase out on the field.”
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