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‘Shirts are on the line’ as Wallaroos seek first-ever win over Black Ferns

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 28: Michaela Leonard of Australia celebrates during the WXV1 match between France and Australia Wallaroos at Forsyth Barr Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp has revamped her side as they attempt to pull off a famous victory over the Black Ferns in their final Pacific Four rugby series match.

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Australia take on New Zealand at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland on Saturday looking for their first win of the four-nation series, but will be without star forward Ashley Marsters because of an ankle injury.

The Wallaroos fell away in the second half of last round’s clash with the USA to crash to a 32-25 loss in Melbourne, putting a massive dent in their hopes of qualifying for the WXV 1 competition which gets underway in September.

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To make the six-team series, which also features the top three Six Nations sides from Europe, Australia must beat the Kiwis with a bonus point.

The Wallaroos have not toppled New Zealand in their previous 25 meetings – and lost 50-0 in their most recent clash with the Black Ferns.

But the Kiwis were surprise 22-19 losers to Canada last round, giving Yapp much to consider.

“The way Canada approached it, they came at New Zealand with a lot of line speed and shut them down really effectively – so that’s something we’ve been focusing on,” Yapp said on Thursday.

“We’ve challenged the players this week. We’ve put them under quite a few pressure situations, because that’s the only way we’re going to get better on field.

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“The shirts are on the line – if you like – in terms of who wanted to step up, because we did lack a little bit of physicality in the last game.

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“We wanted to see how players responded to that and have been really impressed across the board with how they have.”

Queensland Reds captain Cecilia Smith will play her first match of the series as part of Yapp’s reshuffle, starting at inside centre.

Lock Atasi Lafai and flanker Leilani Nathan will start in the forwards, shifting Kaitlan Leaney and Trilleen Pomare to the reserves.

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Teenager Caitlyn Halse retains her spot at fullback after making her debut last week, with Lori Cramer dropping out of the squad and Tabua Tuinakauvadra the new face on the bench.

Yapp did not put a date on Marsters’ return, with the star flanker set to undergo further assessment on Monday.

WALLAROOS: Brianna Hoy, Tania Naden, Eva Karpani, Michaela Leonard (c), Atasi Lafai, Siokapesi Palu, Leilani Nathan, Piper Duck, Samantha Wood, Arabella McKenzie, Desiree Miller, Cecilia Smith, Georgina Friedrichs, Maya Stewart, Caitlyn Halse. Reserves: Hera-Barb Malcolm Heke, Sally Fuesaina, Bridie O’Gorman, Kaitlan Leaney, Tabua Tuinakauvadra, Layne Morgan, Trilleen Pomare, Faitala Moleka.

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J
JW 1 hour 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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