It wasn't pretty, but the Black Ferns scraping into the World Cup final has helped change the face of women's rugby - drawing a sell-out crowd to Eden Park for their long-awaited clash with England, Suzanne McFadden reports.
If you wanted a ticket to the greatest show in town this year, the final of the Rugby World Cup, looks like you’re plain out of luck.
Within minutes of the Black Ferns’ heart-stopping 25-24 victory over France, ticket sales for next Saturday’s dreamed-of final encounter between New Zealand and England went ballistic.
Within an hour, the only seats left were with 'restricted views' – those tickets no-one ever wants for a match-up like this. Sunday morning, and it was a sold-out Eden Park. Who would have ever thought?
This moment in Black Ferns’ history may have been a turning of the tide for women’s rugby. In a country where the game is a national religion, people are finally desperate to be a part of the women’s game; to witness the most successful rugby side in World Cup history taking on a Northern Hemisphere side who haven’t lost in 30 tests.
Yet regardless of the outcome next weekend, to be played in front of just over 40,000 fans, last Saturday will go down as one of the greatest days in women’s rugby history, that’s for certain.
To begin with, both semifinals were terrific examples of the women’s game, but in different ways. England’s 26-19 defeat of Canada was tighter than it sounds – the gutsy Canadians pushing the Red Roses right through an intense 80 minutes.
Abby Dow’s brilliant counterattack try, which finally sealed England’s place in the final, is being hailed as one of the greatest tries in international rugby. And it had an incredible back story – just seven months ago, the English wing suffered a grisly broken leg in a test against Wales, and raced the clock to make it to New Zealand. She just made all the pain and struggle worth it.
Then the Black Ferns and France produced what rugby legend Wayne Smith called “a great game of competitive rugby, great for the women’s game; it was just outstanding.” But it was also a match that truly tested his ticker.
Before a 22,000-strong Eden Park crowd - that sounded half French fans, half Kiwi - the Black Ferns found themselves 10-0 down after almost half an hour. They finally burst through the seemingly impenetrable blue wall when Stacey Fluhler dotted down on the left wing, but the defending champions were trailing, 17-10, at half-time.
It was a position not foreign to them – they were down at the break in the final of the 2017 World Cup (of course, eventually winning 41-32).
The changing room vibe at Eden Park wasn’t unlike that in Kingspan Stadium in Belfast five years ago, halfback Kendra Cocksedge says: “It was real cool, calm and collected. We all knew what we had to do.”
After Smith, the Black Ferns head coach, urged his exciting attacking side to kick more, the Black Ferns started putting kicks through, testing the legendary French defence. A spectacular kick and chase try (Renee Holmes putting through a grubber kick that Ruby Tui pounced on – a momentum shift, Cocksedge says), then followed by Theresa Fitzpatrick scoring off a line-out drive, finally put the home side in front after near on an hour.
Fireworks literally went off behind co-captain Ruahei Demant when she slotted a penalty which gave the Black Ferns an eight-point advantage. But the French were unrelenting on attack, and when their powerful No.8 Romane Menager scored her second try of the night, there was just one point in it.
The momentum seemed to be going the Black Ferns' way, especially after French playmaker Safi N'Diaye was yellow carded for a high tackle on young Black Ferns prop Santo Taumata, and they were down to 14 players.
What transpired next may well go down as one of those “Where were you when…?” moments in New Zealand sport.
With Taumata sinbinned herself in the 79th minute for an accidental head clash, French first-five Caroline Drouin stepped up to kick a penalty about 30m out and slightly to the right of the goalposts. On any other day, this would have been a sitter for Drouin.
While she was lining it up, the Black Ferns gathered in a huddle behind the posts. “We were talking around what if’s… if it missed, how were we going to ride down the time and kick it out?” Cocksedge says. “And if they got it, talking about taking a quick kick-off and getting the ball back. We’ve got some talented sevens players who can get up.
“The whole team were looking to the sky saying, ‘Oh my God, please don’t get this over, please don’t get this over’. I was looking at the kick and I felt [Drouin] took it quite quickly.”
Former Black Ferns captain Les Elder had her head buried in her hands. “I couldn’t even watch. Because there was nothing the girls could do in that moment, with that penalty,” she says.
Drouin seemed to kick under the ball and it back-spun, skewing it to the left of the posts.
Kennedy Simon, one of the Black Ferns’ famous ‘spark plugs’ coming off the bench for the second half, was standing under the posts, waiting.
“I was looking at the kicker and as soon as she hit the ball, I was ‘Oh, it's going over’, and then it didn't. And my eyes just lit up and then I was just chasing it and caught it, thinking about giving it to Portia [Woodman]. I was like, ‘No we've got to hold onto this’,” the co-captain says.
Smith couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“When Kennedy [Simon] caught that ball, caught the kick that missed, I was yelling out, 'Kick it, kick it.”
Weren’t we all?
“But then I realised there was 10 seconds left and she did the right thing, she didn't kick it.”
The Black Ferns patiently ground it out and Cocksedge, checking with the referee if time was up, finally kicked the ball into touch. While she jumped into the arms of Ayesha Leti-I’iga, Drouin sat on her haunches, alone and in despair.
“I really feel for Drouin,” Elder says. “That moment doesn’t define the test match France played, and I know she’ll carry that, but it wasn’t on her.
“But holy hell, the desperation New Zealand showed was just inspirational. To know what they’ve been through; I’ve been a big part of what they’ve been through in the last 12 months.
“I think the whole of New Zealand would have written this team off. So I’m so proud.”
Elder captained the Black Ferns on their horror Northern tour a year ago, when they lost twice to the French, and didn’t know how to exactly sum up how New Zealand won Saturday night’s game.
“I actually thought we won it quite ugly. We did it quite hard,” she says. “We went away from the game plan we’ve been doing up until this match.
“Wayne Smith hasn’t been shy in saying that we will not win this World Cup by playing the traditional game, and I felt like we dropped back into playing a traditional style of rugby.
“The Black Ferns pride ourselves playing on top and we didn’t this time. But credit to France because defensively they were outstanding, they forced us to play behind the game line.”
Elder was also concerned in patches of the match where the two “game managers” – Demant and Cocksedge – seemed a little flustered.
“That’s something they will learn from and be better for next week. But in those pressure moments, there needs to be cool, calm heads among the two,” she says.
“We won’t get away with that next week. England will defend and they will attack, we know they can attack just as well as us. If we are tapping and going and not prepared for that, and we’re handing the ball over like we did on a number of occasions tonight, England will make us pay for it.”
Cocksedge defended her decision to make a string of quick taps from penalties, even though they didn’t all work.
“I’ve always been the tempo girl, and I’ve always liked to go quickly. And Smithy’s always backed me on that; he loves that too,” she says.
“It’s hard defensively if you’re tired and someone’s taking quick taps all the time, so that’s the reason why.”
Sometimes her own team weren’t ready for it though.
“There was definitely one time where that definitely happened, and I wanted to keep the game going and keep down that end, and I felt that’s what helped. We scored four tries the other weekend off quick taps, so I think a little bit of fatigue started kicking in because the game was so hard physically.”
It will be just as hard, if not more exhausting, coming up against the English in their final clash. Neither side has lost at this tournament – the Black Ferns have now won 11 games in a row this season.
The once-retired Smith, called in to help out a Black Ferns team in tatters back in April, never thought he’d be in this position again. Back in 2011, he sat in the coaching box as the All Blacks beat France 8-7 in the World Cup final. But it’s a new experience for him, too.
“We're underdogs; I've never been in that position before, actually. Other than with the Crusaders, but with the All Blacks, never. So, it'll be a new feeling for me and, yeah, I think we'll have a good week," Smith says.
“I'll probably be a bit freer this week. I think the fact that we're in a final gives you now an opportunity to really get loose and really go for it. You've got nothing to lose.”
Again, that may be the way the Black Ferns can win the World Cup for a sixth time. To play their fast-paced, flowing yet chaotic style.
Elder says the Black Ferns have to use England’s confidence to their advantage.
“When we last beat England in 2019, that was a changing point for them,” she says. “I see that in their mentality, the language they use - everything is about how good they are, and the belief in how good they are. And I love that.
“But at the same time as a Black Fern, you’ve got to take that and use that to fuel you, to prove we’re just as good, if not better.”
England coach Simon Middleton reckoned he didn’t care who his team came up against in the final, yet it was obvious meeting the defending world champions on home soil was what the Roses really wanted.
“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 says.
While it’s obvious England are backing themselves all the way, they need to remember there’s just as much driving the Black Ferns to win – in front of their families and friends, who’ve loyally followed them around the north for the past five weeks, and for their new band of fans. The number of fans through the turnstiles at this tournament just clocked over 100,000.
And there’s one player who may want it more than most. Next week will be the final appearance of the Black Ferns little general, Cocksedge, retiring as the most capped Black Fern of all time after what will be her 68th test.
As she was signing autographs after the game, Cocksedge was shaking. When she got into the changing room, she bawled her eyes out.
“It’s pretty special next week. I’m going to be playing in a World Cup final for my last game at Eden Park.”
Who would deny her a fairytale ending? Well, England will give it their best shot, especially with evergreen captain Sarah Hunter playing a world-record 140th test.
