2022 Black Ferns
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@Machpants said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Bovidae said in 2022 Black Ferns:
Definitely a new era. Only 13 caps in the starting forward pack.
Jesus, England are going to eat them up. Building for 2025, hopefully we can return the favour of taking England home world cup
So are we just abandoning competing for the home RWC, or are these young kids better than the old stagers?
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@Crucial Yeah, that was the info I was looking for in the media release, but it doesn't contain an "unavailable (due to injury)" list.
The article on Stuff doesn't contain any injury info either and NZH hasn't even published an article about the team naming (yet).
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@canefan Obviously, the aim will be winning the RWC (which coach doesn't want to win it), but maybe they just thought the previous coaching set-up had it all wrong and they think this may work better? Wait and see how it goes, but I'll be watching with interest.
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@canefan said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Machpants said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Bovidae said in 2022 Black Ferns:
Definitely a new era. Only 13 caps in the starting forward pack.
Jesus, England are going to eat them up. Building for 2025, hopefully we can return the favour of taking England home world cup
So are we just abandoning competing for the home RWC, or are these young kids better than the old stagers?
I don't know, I think we've hardly played and when we did we got smashed. Covid on top of the rubbish women's rugby set up in NZ & SH means there really is not much to be done beyond damage limitation.
As was pointed out up thread, England have players with more caps than the number of times the black ferns have played tests. I would imagine many England players have more caps than BF starting teams, and more first class games than the entire squad!
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@Machpants Yep, Kendra Cocksedge will become the most capped BF with 58 tests, but during the Women's 6 Nations, England centre Emily Scarratt played her 100th test and I don't even think she's the most capped England player. They play so many more test matches, it's just ridiculous if you think about how few tests the BFs play each year, although this may increase in the post-covid era, if they finally make the Pacific Four Series a permanent event (and maybe add Fijiana and Japan to make it a Pacific 6 Nations).
Before Covid, they had the International Super Series with NZ, USA, Canada and France, but that tournament was sacrificed each time WR had other ideas, for example, replacing it by Women's RWC qualifiers for the USA and Canada, and then not playing other tests.
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@Machpants said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@canefan said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Machpants said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Bovidae said in 2022 Black Ferns:
Definitely a new era. Only 13 caps in the starting forward pack.
Jesus, England are going to eat them up. Building for 2025, hopefully we can return the favour of taking England home world cup
So are we just abandoning competing for the home RWC, or are these young kids better than the old stagers?
I don't know, I think we've hardly played and when we did we got smashed. Covid on top of the rubbish women's rugby set up in NZ & SH means there really is not much to be done beyond damage limitation.
As was pointed out up thread, England have players with more caps than the number of times the black ferns have played tests. I would imagine many England players have more caps than BF starting teams, and more first class games than the entire squad!
I'm sure Wayne knows what he is doing and has picked the best team available. Just seems like a lot of familiar names are absent
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Has there ever been any mention of the BF's playing a NZ male age grade team to up their experience? NZ netball play a male team to help with their prep, why can't the BF's play an under 18 (or older or younger to help get the intensity right) male team to help with their prep?
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@Toddy said in 2022 Black Ferns:
Has there ever been any mention of the BF's playing a NZ male age grade team to up their experience? NZ netball play a male team to help with their prep, why can't the BF's play an under 18 (or older or younger to help get the intensity right) male team to help with their prep?
We need a formal competition like TRC. But who else can we include aside from Australia? What is the strength of the Pacific Island sides? And what sort of top level provincial comp do the Aussies have, if any? A SRA comp for the women would also be a good thing
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@Toddy said in 2022 Black Ferns:
Has there ever been any mention of the BF's playing a NZ male age grade team to up their experience? NZ netball play a male team to help with their prep, why can't the BF's play an under 18 (or older or younger to help get the intensity right) male team to help with their prep?
Never going to happen in a full contact sport.
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@canefan See my previous post. This Pacific Four Series is basically the continuation of the International Super Series, in which they've replace France with Australia. The highest ranked team below the BFs is Canada, but both Canada and USA were also smashed by England, last year IIRC. Of the PIs, only Fijiana shows enough progress to maybe be included in the future. IMO, they should go for a Pacific 6 Nations, and add Fijiana and Japan (that beat both Australia and Fijiana in May) to the Pacific Four nations.
See the women's world rankings here:
Women's and Men's Rankings | World Rugby
Information about the World Rugby women's and men's rankings
Edited to add that I think the Aussies only have Super W.
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@canefan said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Toddy said in 2022 Black Ferns:
Has there ever been any mention of the BF's playing a NZ male age grade team to up their experience? NZ netball play a male team to help with their prep, why can't the BF's play an under 18 (or older or younger to help get the intensity right) male team to help with their prep?
We need a formal competition like TRC. But who else can we include aside from Australia? What is the strength of the Pacific Island sides? And what sort of top level provincial comp do the Aussies have, if any? A SRA comp for the women would also be a good thing
Well as above,, the Pacific 4, expanded with Fijians and A N other, would be good. There will be native mismatches, but 6N is the same. More important is for Aupiki to be at an absolute minimum home and away, semis and finals, for more pro rugby. Get outside teams in as well, maybe, tho they are closer to NPC level
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@Stargazer said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Bovidae Do you know whether all games will be shown delayed? Or at least the BFs tests?
The short answer is, I don't know. I only saw this advertised on Newshub. Spark Sport and Newshub have a deal for the RWC games so maybe they will be showing the BF tests in the Pacific Four at least.
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I don't want this post to result in a political discussion, but for who doesn't know, here's some background info on rookie prop Tanya Kalounivale.
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@Stargazer said in 2022 Black Ferns:
I don't want this post to result in a political discussion, but for who doesn't know, here's some background info on rookie prop Tanya Kalounivale.
What an amazing story.
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@Crucial said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Stargazer said in 2022 Black Ferns:
I don't want this post to result in a political discussion, but for who doesn't know, here's some background info on rookie prop Tanya Kalounivale.
What an amazing story.
Paywalled for me
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@Machpants said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Crucial said in 2022 Black Ferns:
@Stargazer said in 2022 Black Ferns:
I don't want this post to result in a political discussion, but for who doesn't know, here's some background info on rookie prop Tanya Kalounivale.
What an amazing story.
Paywalled for me
Is for me now as well. Possibly the writer got so many hits that he switched his account to subscriber only.
Short story is that when Tanya Kalounivale was very young her father was caught up in the various coups in Fiji, got on the wrong side of Bainimarama and was possibly tortured and executed. She has a brother who was a very promising player whose rugby career in Fiji was vetoed and the family then left the country as 'refugees' which has resulted in Tanya playing for her adopted country.
There's a few more twists and turns and detail if you want to sign up for a trial read. I found it interesting.
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World Cup hopefuls go head-to-head in Black Ferns trial
Fresh from victory in the Pacific Four Series, Black Ferns coaches and players now turn their attention to a trial match, to be played in Pukekohe next week.
Dubbed Ngalingali v Rawata (‘possibles’ in Tongan and Fijian) the match will kick off at 7.05pm on Friday 8 July at Navigation Homes Stadium and will be broadcast live on Sky Sport.
Leading coaches Anna Richards, Scott Manson, Crystal Kaua and Victoria Grant will lead the two teams, with the Black Ferns coaching group of Wayne Smith, Wesley Clarke and Whitney Hansen watching on.
Fiji rugby and Bainimarama’s vengeance
