2021 Black Ferns
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Excellent idea, but which countries will compete in a women's Rugby Championship?If this is organised by SANZAAR, I fear it will be a mirror of the men's RC, with NZ, Oz, RSA and Argentina.
New Zealand and Australia playing against Springboks Women and Argentina won't help NZ and Oz get meaningful test matches.
NZ is ranked 2nd in the world and only below England because they've not played a test since 17 August 2019, while England played 6 Nations in 2020 and a test series against France.
Australia is already at a lower lever, ranked 5th. There's a strong top 4, then a gap, then Australia, but NZ-Oz games are at least still worth watching.
Springboks women are 13th. NZ and Australia will crush them. In 2019, Springboks women played Spain once and Scotland twice. Spain (ranked 10th) beat South Africa 29 - 12, Scotland (ranked 11th) beat them 47 - 5 and 38 - 15. (Scotland later beat Spain 36 - 12).
Argentina ... do they even have a women's team? They don't appear in the women's ranking at all.
Best thing for the Black Ferns and Wallaroos would be a Rugby Championship that includes the USA (6th) and Canada (3rd), but they're not part of SANZAAR.
FYI, if it would be an Oceania Championship: Samoa are ranked 16th, Fiji 21st and Tonga 26th. I think the last time NZ competed in that tournament, they sent the Black Ferns Development team, which still won easily.
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@machpants Agreed. Even if the tournament itself could have gone ahead in NZ (with all the necessary managed isolation, so already very unlikely), then still several qualifiers have been postponed again, and again.
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International women’s rugby will return to New Zealand in September with a two-Test series against Australia confirmed today.
2021 O’Reilly Cup fixtures
Sunday, 26 September
Black Ferns v Australia, Rugby Park Christchurch
Kick off: 4.05pmSaturday, 2 October
Black Ferns v Australia, Eden Park (double header for ABs v SA)
Kickoff: 4.30pm
First Black Ferns fixtures for 2021 secured
International women’s rugby will return to New Zealand in September with a two-Test series against Australia confirmed today.
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@Bovidae Just posted the same thing. Have edited and only left what you hadn't posted.
The O’Reilly Cup will be up for grabs when the Black Ferns host Australia in Christchurch on 26 September before a tantalising double header at Eden Park alongside the All Blacks taking on South Africa on 2 October.
These are the first international fixtures for the Black Ferns since 2019 and mark the start of their Test season with details of an End of Year tour still to be announced.
This is great news! The Black Ferns' lack of test matches before the WRWC next year, esp. compared to their NH rivals who have played 6 Nations, was worrying. -
Obviously, we'll still have to wait and see whether it goes ahead, but there are four Black Ferns tests planned for an end-of-year tour.
The French federation has announced these two tests:
Sat 13 November 2021, 3.00pm in Pau:
France v New ZealandSat 20 November 2021, 3.00pm in Castres:
France v New ZealandThe RFU has announced two tests between England and New Zealand in the weekends of 29-31 October and 5-7 November 2021.
(all times are local times)
Haven't seen any announcement from NZR, yet.
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Blacks Ferns to play two tests against England on back to back weekends. 29-31 October and 5-7 November.
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Exact venues, timing, dates and ticketing TBC
https://www.englandrugby.com/news/article/red-roses-autumn-fixtures-2021-announced
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The four tests have now been confirmed by NZR.
Media release: https://www.allblacks.com/news/black-ferns-end-of-year-tour-confirmed
“In the lead up to next year’s World Cup we knew we needed to be playing some of the Six Nations teams, so confirming these fixtures is incredibly important.
“Coupled with the O’Reilly Cup and next year’s Elite Women’s XV competition, we are building a strong calendar of rugby for players to prepare for the World Cup,” said Sexton.
The last meetings of these teams was at the 2019 Super Series in San Diego, which the Black Ferns won, and recorded a win and a loss against England and France respectively.Black Ferns Coach Glenn Moore said this tour is critical for the Black Ferns.
“Due to Covid19, we haven’t played a Test match in two years. It’s crucial for us to have fixtures against other tier one teams and to do it on the road gives us the ability to bond as a group, grow connections, work on combinations and develop the game we want to play.”The 2021 Black Ferns squad will be named next month.
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34-PLAYER BLACK FERNS SQUAD NAMED FOR TEST SERIES
Black Ferns Coach Glenn Moore has named a 34-player squad for the upcoming tour of England and France, the squad is as follows.
(With age, Provincial Union and Test caps in brackets.):Hookers
Grace Houpapa-Barrett (26, Waikato, new cap)
Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate (29, Counties Manukau, 29)
Georgia Ponsonby (21, Canterbury, new cap)Props
Tanya Kalounivale (22, Waikato, new cap)
Aldora Itunu (30, Auckland, 20)
Phillipa Love (31, Canterbury, 11)
Krystal Murray (28, Northland, new cap)
Aleisha Nelson (31, Auckland, 35)
Amy Rule (21, Canterbury, new cap)Locks
Eloise Blackwell (30, Auckland, 43) - Vice Captain
Joanah Ngan-Woo (25, Wellington, 3)
Maiakawanakaulani Roos (20, Auckland, new cap)
Kelsie Wills (28, Bay of Plenty, 0)Loose Forwards
Alana Bremner (24, Canterbury, new cap)
Les Elder (34, Bay of Plenty, 18) - Captain
Dhys Faleafaga (20, Wellington, new cap)
Liana Mikaele Tu'u (19, Auckland, new cap)
Kendra Reynolds (28, Bay of Plenty, 0)
Kennedy Simon (24, Waikato, 4)Halfbacks
Ariana Bayler (24, Waikato, new cap)
Kendra Cocksedge (33, Canterbury, 53) - Vice Captain
Iritana Hohaia (21, Taranaki, new cap)First five-eighths
Ruahei Demant (26, Auckland, 11)
Patricia Maliepo (18, Auckland, new cap)Midfield
Chelsea Alley (28, Waikato, 24)
Grace Brooker (22, Canterbury, 1)
Stacey Fluhler (25, Waikato, 16)
Carla Hohepa (36, Waikato, 25)Outside Backs
Kelly Brazier (31, Bay of Plenty, 40)
Renee Holmes (21, Waikato, 0)
Ayesha Leti-I'iga (22, Wellington, 9)
Renee Wickliffe (34, Bay of Plenty, 41)
Portia Woodman (30, Northland, 16)
Cheyelle Robins-Reti (22, Waikato, 0)Unavailable for selection: Charmaine McMenamin, Pia Tapsell, Lisa Molia, Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu, Langi Veainu, Aroha Savage, Toka Natua, Kilisitina Moata’ane.
Just under half of the squad named today will be in line for their international debut next month, with 12 debutants and a further four players whose only experience in the black jersey was last year’s domestic series.
Outside backs Renee Wickliffe and Ayesha Leti-I'iga return from injury and are joined by sevens exponents Portia Woodman, Kelly Brazier and Cheyelle Robins-Reti in an explosive outside backs group.
Moore has shown faith in an exciting group of youngsters, with teens Patricia Maliepo and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u selected alongside 20-year-olds Dhys Faleafaga and Maia Roos.
Les Elder returns to captain the side after missing the 2020 season.“We’ve had to take a Covid mindset to ensure enough coverage across all positions because calling on a replacement is not as easy as it usually would be.”
“With a World Cup just around the corner this programme is critical for us. We’re playing against two the best teams in the world and they’ve come off Six Nations so we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can under these conditions to be prepared,” said Moore.
New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia are still investigating the possibility of an O’Reilly Cup fixture after the original series in New Zealand was cancelled.Squad breakdown
The Black Ferns squad is made up of 19 forwards (three hookers, six props, four locks and six loose forwards) and 15 backs (three halfbacks, two first five–eighths, four midfielders, and six outside backs).
The squad represents eight of New Zealand’s provincial unions, with nine Waikato players, seven from Auckland, six from Canterbury, five from Bay of Plenty, three from Wellington, two from Northland and one each from Counties Manukau and Taranaki.
The squad has an average age of 26, a total of 399 caps experience. Halfback Kendra Cocksedge has the potential to become the most capped Black Ferns player of all time on this tour, surpassing Fiao’o Faamausili. -
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@machpants England are huge favourites. The BFs haven't played a test for so long, while England has played 6 Nations. And also a very limited preparation due to Covid/lockdown affecting the Farah Palmer Cup.
