The Black Ferns have scored an impressive comeback win over the USA in Ottawa this morning and while it didn't go to script, it shows New Zealand Rugby made the right call with their successor to Wayne Smith.
An early red card saw the Black Ferns fall behind 17-5 against the Americans but Bunting's substitutions — and the play of those experienced super subs — led to 34 unanswered points in the second half and a 39-17 win.
Heading into this morning's game against the US, a team who had previously been thumped by the same Wallaroos and Canada, the Black Ferns comfortably put 50 points on. Bunting made no secret of what his intentions were with the team he named.
"As a team it is important we continue to build our depth and our game foundations," he said when announcing his side.
There was plenty of fresh faces, a new captain and the hope of getting them all some valuable game time in the black jersey.
Just two minutes into the game however, that all went out the window.
An early red card to Iritana Hohaia threw off the Black Ferns significantly with their halfback's game over after the TMO stopped play to show replays of her creating a head-on-head collision with no mitigating factors.
Sure enough, her day was done barely after it had started and that forced this inexperienced Black Ferns side to try and regroup with 78 minutes of 14-player rugby ahead of them.
If the disadvantage wasn't enough, Hohaia's absence meant the Black Ferns were down one of their key drivers for the game with two-Test first-five Rosie Kelly now having to fill the void at halfback.
Bunting didn't panic though, letting his young team try to find their footing after the USA opened the scoring off the penalty from Hohaia's departure.
They did — debutant Grace Gago went over soon after to make it 5-7 but as the game wore on, it was clear the Black Ferns were out of sync.
There were handling errors, ill-disciplined penalties and a growing deficit starting to push them further and further back in the contest.
So at the 30-minute mark, Bunting went away from building depth and initiated building confidence as usual co-captain and star playmaker Ruahei Demant was brought in early to settle things down.
There was another problem though with Liana Mikaele-Tu'u yellow-carded for poor discipline near her tryline, reducing the Black Ferns to just 13 for 10 minutes.
The USA chipped on another three points to end the first half and take a commanding 17-5 lead into the break and there Bunting made more changes to get his going.
As the teams returned to the field, replacement halfback Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu was brought on as well as hooker Georgia Ponsonby and fullback Renee Holmes — a tonne of experience that immediately went about their work getting the side back on track.
Then came the Demant spark.
Deep in their half just minutes after the restart, Demant scooped up a wayward grubber kick and launched a beautiful counterattack all on her own that ended with a brave kick for the corner that Holmes gave chase to and recovered before being taken into touch 5m short of the US line.
That seemed to ignite the world champions who then opened the second half scoring through Marino-Tauhinu despite being down two players.
Three points from Holmes soon after made it a two-point game and suddenly the Black Ferns were starting to look like their usual, confident selves again.
They were certainly helped by the forward pack's utter dominance at the set piece, picking up penalties at the scrum and metres with their lineout maul for plenty of territory and attacking positions.
That dominance was rewarded with Pip Love going over next to hand the Black Ferns their first lead of the day in the 59th minute and Mikaele-Tu'u added to the lead minutes later with another slick lineout move.
At that point, you'd be forgiven for forgetting the Black Ferns were playing down a player as their relentless attacks just seemed to find space in the fading USA lines.
Demant was then finally reward for her stellar game with a try of her own in the 73rd minute, effectively sealing the result although Amy Du Plessis got in on the action after the hooter to add the cherry on top.
It was an impressive comeback — not only because the veterans came on and led the way in a challenging situation but also because Bunting wasn't afraid to give them that opportunity.
"We're a team that care for each other — that's one of our values and regardless of what's thrown at us, we always get back up and show that we care for our teammates," Demant said after the match.
"There's a lot of things that we aren't in control of but I'm grateful that that is something that we've prepared for and we trusted in our preparation and decisions our coaches made and we just went in and did our work."
That isn't to say it was all the old-heads this morning — there will still be some performances Bunting will have been impressed by. Sevens convert Tenika Willison had a strong day at fullback as well as Lucy Jenkins making the most of her first Black Ferns start in the loose forwards.
Roos also showed her merits as a captain and acknowledged her bench's efforts.
"We obviously have a lot of new, young talent that we're looking to grow and develop so we're obviously looking to develop that," the skipper said.
"But our sparkies came on and we really lifted in the second half."
Black Ferns 39 [Grace Gago, Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu, Phillipa Love, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Ruahei Demant, Amy Du Plessis tries; Renee Holmes pen, 2 con]
USA 17 [Paluvava’u Freda Tafuna, Rachel Johnson tries; McKenzie Hawkins pen, 2 con]
HT: 5-17
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