An emotional Wayne Smith has spoken of his pride in the Black Ferns and captain Ruahei Demant in particular as the hosts upset the odds and held off England to win the World Cup final at Eden Park tonight.
The 34-31 nerve-shredding win was the Black Ferns’ sixth World Cup final victory but none have been as difficult as this.
Defending a slim lead for the final seven minutes, the Black Ferns were staring down the barrel of a heart-rending defeat when England laid siege to their tryline in the final seconds, but they held them out – replacement lock Joanah Ngan-Woo winning a crucial lineout steal to prevent the Red Roses from scoring their fifth driving maul try of the night.
Smith, the former All Blacks coach and now double World Cup winner with the men’s and women’s sides, is now ending his involvement with the Black Ferns.
He said: “We took a risk in that last lineout. The message sent down was ‘get someone up’ and that someone was Joanah Ngan-Woo, who is a phenomenal athlete - good under pressure and she did the business.”
Smith added: “I said to the team this morning I love them. I’m proud of them, and I’ve never been more proud of a team, win or lose. I didn’t really care today – win or lose. It’s better to win than lose but we just wanted to play and be true to our DNA.
“I’m not going to stay involved but I’ll be following these women for the rest of their careers.”
He said the state of the women’s game in New Zealand had never been better and the record crowd of 42,500 would attest to that.
After sneaking past France 25-24 in their semifinal, the Black Ferns did it the hard way in the tournament showpiece against a team in England who battled to the end despite playing with 14 players for three quarters of it after the red card for wing Lydia Thompson for a dangerous high tackle on Portia Woodman.
"I dont' know if she'll remember much of the game," Smith said of Woodman.
The Black Ferns took the lead for the first time in the 49th minute but lost it again as England responded.
Despite forever being in danger of conceding via England’s fearsome lineout drive, the home side attacked with spirit in the second half and England, who battled to subdue Canada in their semifinal, appeared a little rattled.
Skipper Demant said she always felt a sense of calm despite being behind for all of the first half and most of the second.
“It’s funny, even though we were down for most of the game I never felt like we were going to lose,” she said. “I don’t say that based on the opposition, I say it based on the calmness that our 15 players on the field showed. We knew where the space was – we just had to get the ball there.
“We knew that lineout drive was killing us so we tried to keep the ball in and not concede any penalties. It took 80 minutes and it took 23 – it didn’t matter if we had a yellow card – I guess to sum up the game I’m just really proud.”
Demant said she was “worried” about the support the Black Ferns would receive in their home tournament after a difficult previous 12 months, adding: “The support we have received from the country has been quite overwhelming and as players none of us expected this. It’s still quite surreal to turn up to Eden Park – we’ve been here three times now – and it’s been sold out two times.
“I never thought when the Rugby World Cup was announced to be held in New Zealand that we would have this level of fan engagement because we’re not really that type of country.
“I was quite worried – but the way the country has turned out, you couldn’t have scripted it. It’s been unreal.”
Smith said of Demant: “She has led this team phenomenally… she has consistently been the best player on the field and I give her all the credit. She’s been outstanding.
“I never thought in 100 years I’d standing in the middle of Eden Park and 40,000 people would be chanting for the Black Ferns. Something ignited this country around women’s rugby and we’ve got to make it count.”
“That was the most phenomenal rugby moment of my life standing out there and hearing that crowd chanting the names of these girls.
“It has been one of the great experiences of my life.”
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