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Ruahei Demant hails Black Ferns’ ‘selflessness’ after 62-point blitz

The Black Ferns huddle after their victory during the International Test Match between Australia Wallaroos and New Zealand Black Ferns at Ballymore Stadium on July 14, 2024 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

Black Ferns captain Ruahei Demant has explained how Katelyn Vaha’akolo’s four-try haul showed the “selflessness” of the team during their 62-nil demolition of the Wallaroos at Brisbane’s Ballymore Stadium.

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Vaha’akolo was recognised as World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year last October after jumping codes from rugby league and then showing signs of promise. But the dual international took things to an all-new level on Sunday afternoon.

With plenty of support from fans in the stands at the well-known rugby venue, New Zealand’s No. 11 may have had her best outing yet in the famed black jersey Vaha’akolo put on a show with two tries in both halves, including a stunner 60 seconds after the half-time break.

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But perfection is almost impossible to obtain in sports. The Blues Women’s Player of the Year came within inches of a first-half hat-trick before dropping the ball over the try line – later crediting the defensive pressure from Australia’s Biola Dawa.

Vaha’akolo joked about that effort and how it could’ve been one of five tries on that sunny afternoon, but in truth it doesn’t take away from the speedster’s five-star performance and the effort from Black Ferns as a collective.

“We were talking about KV, some of us, after the game,” Ruahei Demant told reporters.

“We’re saying that our favourite tries are when wingers score because we know that they’re team tries and everyone’s doing their little bit to see our outsides dotting down in corners.

“It’s cool to see KV score heaps of tries because it shows the selflessness and the things that we’re working on, not just as a 15 but as a big squad, are coming together.”

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But for all the praise Vaha’akolo and the rest of the New Zealand backline deserve after their masterful display, it’s about time we hear it for the forward pack. Their work up front set the tone for the Test, and the pack reaped the rewards with some tries as well.

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Georgia Ponsonby and Layla Sae both crashed over for the first two tries of the night, while lock Alana Bremner was among those who weren’t afraid to throw the ball around. The work of those wearing jerseys one to eight went a long way to delivering this result.

“We were solid at our set-piece and there’s always a little bit of room to improve that,” Director of Rugby Allan Bunting explained.

“Then our bench came on to raise the bar, too, which was really pleasing. Really happy with our D today… the areas of our game that we really wanted to grow.

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“It was pleasing to see some shifts.”

The Black Ferns have now won three of four Test matches this year, with the only blip on their record being a shock defeat to Canada in Christchurch during World Rugby’s Pacific Four Series.

But the New Zealanders showed some resilience and character to bounce back the way they have in two Laurie O’Reilly Cup clashes with Australia, with both matches going their way by utterly dominant margins.

While the Black Ferns were rightfully all smiles after their most recent win over the Wallaroos, their attention will shift to what could be their most important Test of the year. Next up, New Zealand will take on England’s Red Roses at Twickenham on September 14.

“It is important to see what we’re doing is moving in the right direction,” Bunting added.

“We’re going to Twickenham in a few months’ time and we’re really excited about that. That’ll be the next challenge.

“But the way the ladies are going at the moment, they’re really excited about how we’re playing. That’s where we focus for now and obviously, World Cup… after that.”

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SadersMan 128 days ago

Pleaseeeee . . . the Wallaroos are not the yardstick. These articles ring hollow in the wake of losses to Canada in May 2024 PAC4, & to France (a team the Wallaroos beat), & England (a good ole hiding) both at WXV12023. Get real.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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