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Black Ferns 'still proud' despite WXV 1 title loss
By Jamie Wall
World champions New Zealand were dealt a harsh English backlash at Go Media Mt Smart Stadium last night, going down 33-12.
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While the result saw them finish a disappointing fourth in the WXV 1 standings, lock Chelsea Bremner said the team was still “really proud.”
“As a team, we’ve got, you know, we’ve got lots of great leaders, obviously our two co-captains, but also leaders, you know, on the field through the action. So I think, yeah, we just knew that we had to dig deep and we knew we had to stay in the fight. And unfortunately, you know, going into that second half, we, you know, we couldn’t keep up with England. And yeah, as I said, lots of learnings from that.”
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Prop Amy Rule shared Bremner’s sentiments after being in the thick of a torrid battle up front with the English forward pack.
“I think we emphasize a lot of work and stuff. I’m actually really proud of the girls,” Rule said.
“I think our maul D was outstanding. We gave them a challenge to work off it and it was a battle up front at scrums, but a lot of fun at the end of the day.
“(The post-game message was) to keep our heads held high. I think as a team we had full intent on everything we did so we’ve got to make sure we’re proud of that. We’re a team first and we’re people first, so making sure everyone keeps their head held high. Teams win or lose all the time. It’s just what we do next is important.”
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One of the bright spots in the Black Ferns’ effort was an electric performance off the bench by wing Katelyn Vaha’akolo.
“I think watching the first half, we knew that we had to do something as the bench players,” she said. “And I just was really ready to go.”
Vaha’akolo’s first touch was a clean linebreak, that ultimately led to a slick backline move that saw her score in the corner. Despite that, she was disappointed with the result.
“I don’t think we expressed ourselves the way that we wanted to try to execute in certain moments. But nonetheless, I’m still really proud of our team and what we’re going to be able to do in the future.”
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Bremner is already looking ahead to next season, and a potential showdown with England at Twickenham.
“Like from where we came from at the start of the year, as you say, kind of a really new team, new coaches and obviously we didn’t execute everything, but there’s also a huge amount of growth that we’ve had throughout the season. So yeah, we’re really excited to get into camp next year and just keep building on what we’ve grown this year.”
“The Black Ferns struggled to negate France and England’s defensive line speed. They looked unsettled and even resorted to one especially bad habit against England from their infamous northern tour in 2021 (when they lost four tests in a row) when kicking aimlessly from their own 22, inviting more pressure.”
Just like the ABs….How long will we be waiting till this is fixed?
Mike Cron said post the RWC2021 win that they went in still 6 months away from fully developing the pack to be able to match the Red Roses. Now, under new coaches, more than 12 mths later, the Black Ferns have gone backwards at an alarming rate. Being proud is great, but coming fourth at WXV1 is plain crap. The alarm bells are ringing aloud.