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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Eva Corlett in Wellington

Black Ferns report favouritism, body-shaming and cultural insensitivity in scathing review

The review was instigated after Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate (C) posted on social media about alleged bullying from the team’s coach.
The Black Ferns review was instigated after Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate (C) posted on social media about her mental health problems after a tour in 2021. Photograph: Catherine Ivill - RFU/The RFU Collection/Getty Images

New Zealand’s governing rugby body has failed to properly support women’s high performance rugby, with some players reporting favouritism, ghosting, body-shaming and culturally insensitive comments, a scathing review of one of the world’s top women’s rugby teams has found.

The more than 30-page review, which came with 26 recommendations, was instigated after a senior Black Ferns player – Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate – posted on social media that she had suffered a mental health breakdown following the Black Ferns’ 2021 end-of-year tour to England and France.

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