The Irish showed admirable respect when they refused to turn away from the New Zealanders following the haka. The Black Ferns held their ground, and then unleashed 80 minutes of Mana Wahine, writes 1News sports presenter Scotty Stevenson.
This was more like it. Dialled in and desperate to find the kind of fluency they are famed for playing with, the Black Ferns demolished the Irish 40-nil at Brighton and Hove and set their world cup campaign on the fast track to the final.
This was billed as a genuine showdown, with Ireland on the rise as a force in international women’s rugby and the Black Ferns yet to fully fire in two previous tournament romps over Japan and Spain. Both teams understood what was at stake: top spot in Pool C and a quarterfinal against 10th ranked South Africa rather than 4th-ranked France.
Ireland looked up for the scrap, too, deciding as a team to stare down the Ferns following the haka. It was a mark of respect, a dollop of drama for the fans and, as it transpired, a guaranteed way to fire up those with a silver fern on their chest as they set about picking apart the Irish game plan and asserting themselves on the match.
In short, if you’re going to stare into the souls of 23 women in black, you better be prepared to take on the past, the present, and the future. Turns out, all three turned up to play.
As is so often the case, the point-scorers garnered much of the attention after the match, but special praise should go to the likes of lock Maiakawanakaulani Roos and backrower Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, who bashed and battered the Irish on defence – and in attack. Roos finished with a match-high 19 tackles, while the pair were instrumental in setting the platform for the first try of the match, finished by the perma-grinning Stacey Waaka, and the second, scored by prop Chryss Viliko.
Just as Roos and Mikaele-Tu’u set the tone for the pack, Waaka and Sylvia Brunt were titanic in midfield, a relentless one-two punch that left one of Ireland’s most important players, Eve Higgins, and her partner, Aoife Dalton, at sixes and sevens. Waaka has a preternatural instinct for finding space, and Brunt has a penchant for creating it, most often at her opposite’s expense. Brunt’s unders line to set up the Viliko score was a perfect illustration of her appetite for collision and brutality.
The Black Ferns were forced into full absorption mode in the third quarter, and absorb they did. Ireland had two-thirds of the territory in the second half but were unable to make it count as the New Zealanders repelled everything thrown at them. Ireland produced 121 runs to New Zealand’s 119, but mustered just 333 metres with ball in hand. New Zealand, in contrast, produced 554.
If New Zealand stood a class above in terms of metres per run, they also threw more passes, made more offloads and beat more defenders – all by some distance. Intriguingly, the Black Ferns also kicked more from hand, a part of the game that has not always been a strength of this side and something assistant coach Riki Flutey has been charged with improving.
More fascinating still, the Ferns used the kick to force Ireland to attack from depth, while the Irish used it mainly to escape the field of play. Of Ireland’s 23 kicks in the match, 15 of them were for touch. New Zealand kicked 24 times but only eight of those crossed the white line. On a related theme, Renee Holmes has continued to improve as a goal kicker, slotting five conversions from six attempts.
Her work off the tee all but guarantees her a starting role at fullback, which gives the selectors a raft of options on the wing.
One of those options – and it’s starting to feel less optional than compulsory – is Braxton Sorensen-McGee, who not only claimed a second hattrick in as many matches, but could be the most graceful runner at this tournament. For an 18-year-old, Sorensen-McGee appears to be operating on a different temporal plane to everyone else in the game.
Her first try was a textbook finish in the right corner. Her second was a masterclass in timing adjustment and keeping width to dot down on the left, and her third required her to beat one with pace, step another, and fend a third before crossing on the right again. Pace, precision, and power. And let’s not forget her assist for the Waaka try, either.
Factor in Portia Woodman, Ayesha Leti-Iiga, and Katelyn Vahaakolo and tell me you’d want to be an opposition fullback.
This was a performance that should have all contenders on notice. England have ambitions to cruise through this tournament to collect the trophy at Twickenham, while France and Canada feel they deserve to be in the conversation, too. New Zealand, not for the first time, arrived in at the world cup with a proven track record but a shaky recent record.
That’s why they didn’t just win a game of rugby against Ireland on Monday morning, they stared down a staredown and said to the world, ‘look at me’.
SHARE ME