The Black Ferns’ try-scoring machine who thrives against Wallaroos

The night of July 29, 2023, is not one that Black Ferns centre Logo-i_Pulotu Lemapu-Atai’i (Sylvia) Brunt will forget anytime soon. For a young player who was only a teenager at that time, that masterful performance against Australia was just so important.

‘Sylvia’ Brunt is a Rugby World Cup winner with New Zealand, so it’s not like the international stage is completely new to the midfielder. But the Aucklander had spent a fair bit of time benching behind the likes of Theresa Fitzpatrick and Stacey Waaka.

But last year’s Laurie O’Reilly Cup and World Rugby Pacific Four Series clash between New Zealand and Australia at Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium was a massive confidence booster. Brunt was awarded Player of the Match honours after the one-sided 50-nil demolition.

On September 30, the Black Ferns ran up another big score in the second Trans-Tasman Test of the year. Brunt scored just before half-time as the women in black ran away with a 43-3 win.

Brunt, now 20, scored two first-half tries during a decisive 10-minute period as the Black Ferns began to run up a healthy lead. The New Zealander benefited from some rapid footwork and sheer determination to cross for five-pointers in the 24^th and 34^th minutes.

But away from the scoreboard, the No. 12 was running riot with some other devastating carries and some solid work in defence. For others fortunate enough to have witnessed that display in Queensland just over a year ago, you’ll know exactly how good Sylvia Brunt can be.

“For me, that game stood out to me because it was one of the games where I really felt like I found my feet in the team,” Brunt told RugbyPass’ Finn Morton.

“The year before I was watching likes of [Theresa Fitzpatrick] and Stacey [Waaka] and now I was starting a bit more and I had to now step up.

“That game, I just felt a bit more free. I don’t know what it is about playing Australia but I just love it and hopefully, we can do that again.

“I will say I feel more confident in my abilities and knowing my strengths and weaknesses,” she added when asked about how she feels within the squad today.

“Inside our camp though, there’s healthy competition going on and I guess anything can happen. We’ve got the likes of [Amy du Plessis], [Monica Tagoai] and Grace [Steinmetz]. We’re constantly fighting for a starting position so that’ll be my focus, just trying to continue to be dominant in the areas that I can be.”

While that Test between the Black Ferns and Wallaroos was almost exactly one year ago, it remains especially relevant this week. These arch-rivals are in the midst of their preparation for another Laurie O’Reilly Cup clash on Australian soil.

For the Black Ferns, this Test is an opportunity to back up another strong performance last time out. The Kiwis played the role of hosts earlier this year when the Australians visited Albany’s North Harbour Stadium and they made the most of the home support.

Brunt was on the scoresheet once again as the Black Ferns piled on a barrage of points to all but seal the win before the half-time interval. Fans were all smiles on that May afternoon on Auckland’s North Shore as they witnessed a relentless 67-19 win.

There’s just something about playing the Wallaroos that gets the very best out of Brunt and the Black Ferns.

“I guess we have that really good rivalry with Australia and when it comes to it, we love playing them, we love how hard we go against them and I guess I’m the same too,” Brunt explained.

“We’re definitely happy with the result but there are still a few things to work on,” she reflected.

“When we watched the film, we saw some opportunities that the Aussies had but they just didn’t go that way.

“I wouldn’t say we’re confident because we can’t be too confident, anything can happen on the day. I will say that we’re confident in our abilities and our team – we’re confident in our strengths and our superpowers and it’ll always be the team who shows up on the day.”

This also looms as a pivotal match for the Black Ferns. After suffering a shock loss to Canada during World Rugby’s Pacific Four Series, they have a record of three wins and one defeat so far in 2024.

With major tournaments just around the corner, including next year’s Rugby World Cup in England where they’ll look to defend their crown once again, Brunt said “it’s massive” for the Kiwis to maintain some momentum Test-to-Test.

“Since that last Test match against Canada, we worked really hard on our game management and our game knowledge – just understanding when it’s a good time to put a clearance kick in or when we have to slow the game down just to get everyone on the same page.

“We talk about slowing down to speed up and we don’t always have to go 100ks per hour all the time.

“I think that’ll be really important in our next match and our matches to come near the end of the year.”

The Wallaroos have never beaten their Trans-Tasman foe and while they’ll take the underdogs tag into Sunday afternoon’s clash at Brisbane’s Ballymore Stadium, they’ll be eager to make amends for a series of disappointing performances.

Australia suffered that heavy defeat to the Black Ferns a year ago but beat international heavyweights France later in 2023. This year, under new coach Jo Yapp, they lost their first three before running riot against Fijiana in Sydney last weekend.

Winger Desiree Miller was unstoppable along the left edge as the NSW Waratahs flyer ran in a record-equalling four tries for the Wallaroos. The Aussies claimed a commanding 64-5 win over Fiji which will give them a wealth of confidence going into this week.

“It looked like they put a lot of work in (during) the last month they had and I’d like to say that we have as well,” Brunt previewed.

“We’ve just got to be ready for anything. We already know that they will be coming out firing and they have threats across the field so we’ve just got to do what we did before, keep doing what works and trust in our abilities.”