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'We're underdogs': Black Ferns wary of 'frightening' and 'efficient' Red Roses
By AAP
New Zealand coach Wayne Smith knows what his team need to do to beat England in Saturday's final of the women's Rugby World Cup, but delivering the win that ensures the Black Ferns retain the title will be another matter entirely.
Smith's side saw off France in the semi-finals after England edged Canada to set up the decider at Auckland's Eden Park, with the defending champions and hosts taking on the tournament favourites in a long-anticipated clash.
With a forward pack that has dominated opponents throughout the World Cup, England will go into the final as favourites after Saturday's win extended the Red Roses' record run to 30 consecutive victories.
"I've done a lot of work on England as all the coaches have, they're pretty frightening like, they're so efficient in what they do," said Smith, who was appointed head coach after the Black Ferns' northern hemisphere tour last year.
"You know, it's easy to say don't give away scrums, don't give away penalties, don't give away lineouts because all three or two of them, scrums and lineouts, lead to the third, which is penalties.
"So, we're going to have to work out strategically how we're going to manage that."
New Zealand were the last team to win against the English when they beat the Red Roses in San Diego in July 2019, but since then the English have handed the Black Ferns heavy back-to-back defeats during their European tour last summer.
That recent record means former All Blacks back Smith, a two-time Rugby World Cup-winning assistant coach in the men's game, finds himself in unfamiliar territory going into the decider.
"We're underdogs I've never been in that position before, actually," he said.
"Other than with the (Super Rugby side Canterbury) Crusaders, but with the All Blacks never. So, it'll be a new feeling for me and I think we'll have a good week."
England coach Simon Middleton was relishing the prospect of taking on the six-time champions in their own backyard, even before seeing Smith's side defeat the French in their semi-final.
"We came here and we celebrated New Zealand getting the Rugby World Cup because it gave us a shot at trying to achieve the ultimate goal for any rugby player, which is to win a World Cup in the backyard of the world champions," he said.
"If it's the Black Ferns in the final next week, we won't be disappointed."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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