New Zealand women's national rugby union team

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Not to be confused with New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team or New Zealand women's national rugby league team.
For the men's team, see New Zealand national rugby union team.

New Zealand
Shirt badge/Association crest
UnionNew Zealand Rugby Union
Head coachGlenn Moore
CaptainLesley Elder
Most capsFiao'o Fa'amausili (53)
First colours
Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current2 (as of 23 November 2020)
Highest1 (2003–2012, 2013–2014, 2015–2017, 2017–2020)
Lowest2 (2012–2013, 2014–2015, 2017, 2020–)
First international
 New Zealand 56 – 0 Netherlands 
(Christchurch, New Zealand; 26 August 1990)
Biggest win
 New Zealand 134 – 6 Germany 
(Amsterdam, Netherlands; 2 May 1998)
Biggest defeat
 England 56 – 15 New Zealand 
(Northampton, England; 7 November 2021)
World Cup
Appearances7 (First in 1991)
Best resultChampions 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017

The New Zealand national women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport.[1] The team has won five of the past six Women's Rugby World Cups.

They have an 84.1% winning record in test match rugby, and are the only women's international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their proper international debut in 1991, the Black Ferns have lost to only four of the 16 nations they have played in test matches.[a] They have never been ranked lower than second in the World Rankings since its introduction in 2003.

Team's name[]

The team's nickname combines the colour black and the silver fern, which are iconic New Zealand sporting symbols. For example, the All Blacks is New Zealand's famous men's rugby team, the Black Caps is the men's cricket team, the White Ferns is the women's cricket team, while the Silver Ferns is the national women's netball team.

History[]

Starting with the inaugural International Rugby Board (IRB)-sponsored Cup in 1998, the Black Ferns won four consecutive World Cups, including the 2002 World Cup in Barcelona, the 2006 World Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and the 2010 World Cup in London, England. Most recently, the Black Ferns have won their 5th World Cup, beating the English team in Belfast on 27 August 2017.[2]

The Black Ferns have participated in most WRWC events since its inauguration in 1991, only missing the 1994 championship in Scotland. They also won the Canada Cup in 1996, 2000, and 2005, and the Churchill Cup in 2004.

Farah Palmer was captain of the Ferns from 1997 to 2005, when she lost her captaincy due to a shoulder injury. That year, she was honoured as International Women's (Rugby) Personality of the Year at the IRB Awards. For the 5th Women's Rugby World Cup in Canada, Palmer fought her way back into the team and again led the it to World Cup victory. After the win, Palmer announced her retirement from the Black Ferns in September 2006.[3]

From 2002 until their last game of 2009, the Black Ferns enjoyed a streak of 24 consecutive test match wins spanning almost 9 years.

While rugby is the most popular spectator game in New Zealand, the Black Ferns have suffered in the past from similar problems to any women's sport: under-funding, lack of support and lack of publicity. The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and IRB have been criticised for not doing more to promote women's rugby, although support is beginning to improve in those organisations, in large part due to the Ferns' successes. The NZRU started funding the Black Ferns in 1995, thus giving a great boost to their game. Accordingly, the Black Ferns have benefitted from being included in NZRU High Performance initiatives. Along with professional coaches the team has had access to professional development resources such as analysis. In more recent times, the team's profile has risen greatly at a grassroots level, due in great part to their string of successes, and it is increasingly seen to be a national team on the same basis as any other.

In January 2010, the Women's Provincial Championship (WPC) came under severe threat after the NZRU announced that the championship series would have to go due to budget cuts. As the championship was a prime builder of training, skill and competition for New Zealand women's rugby, the decision was a shock for players and supporters, including former captain Farah Palmer (especially since it was a World Cup year).[4] NZRU said women's domestic rugby was one of many victims of the tight financial times. They faced a barrage of criticism for their decision, and eventually reinstated the WPC after the Black Ferns won the 2010 World Cup.

The WPC was renamed the Farah Palmer Cup in 2016, in honour of the influential former captain.

In 2018, after the success of New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team, all Sevens and Black Ferns players have been offered semi-professional contracts. They also played the first Test series against Australian Walleroos, which was played on the same night as the Men's Bledisloe Cup Tests.

The 2018 season finished with a 1–1 drawn series against France, with France becoming only the fourth team in the world to beat the Black Ferns. The Black Ferns' loss in the final game of the year ended a 17-month long winning streak and was also the final game for captain Fa’amausili, who retired from international rugby.[5]

In 2019, the Black Ferns won the annual Women's Rugby Super Series for the second time.

New Zealand will host the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup after beating out neighbour Australia for the rights.[6] New Zealand automatically qualified for the 2021 event as host.

Record[]

The first four games listed below – played at RugbyFest 1990 – are not generally accepted as being internationals by New Zealand authorities. However, in men's rugby it is general practice to award full international status to any games where ONE side considers a game to be an international. As a result all games in that tournament have been treated as full internationals in this article.

Overall[]

Women's World Rugby Rankings
Top 20 rankings as of 22 November 2021[7]
Rank Change* Team Points
1 Steady  England 096.26
2 Steady  New Zealand 088.58
3 Increase1  France 088.43
4 Decrease1  Canada 088.15
5 Steady  Australia 078.68
6 Steady  United States 076.63
7 Steady  Ireland 076.54
8 Steady  Italy 076.43
9 Steady  Scotland 073.48
10 Steady  Spain 072.10
11 Steady  Wales 071.02
12 Steady  Japan 065.49
13 Steady  South Africa 063.39
14 Steady  Russia 061.10
15 Steady  Kazakhstan 060.45
16 Steady  Samoa 059.72
17 Steady  Netherlands 058.27
18 Steady  Hong Kong 057.89
19 Steady  Sweden 057.73
20 Steady  Germany 057.72
*Change from the previous week
See also: List of New Zealand women's national rugby union team matches

(Full internationals only)

Rugby: New Zealand internationals from 1990
Opponent First game Played Won Drawn Lost Win % For Aga Diff
 Australia 1994 19 19 0 0 100% 715 129 +586
 Canada 1991 15 15 0 0 100% 619 133 +486
 England 1997 29 18 1 10 62.1% 652 449 +203
 France 1996 9 5 0 4 55.6% 301 139 +162
 Germany 1998 2 2 0 0 100% 251 6 +245
 Hong Kong 2017 1 1 0 0 100% 121 0 +121
 Ireland 2014 2 1 0 1 50% 52 25 +27
 Kazakhstan 2014 1 1 0 0 100% 79 5 +74
 Netherlands 1990 1 1 0 0 100% 56 0 +56
 Samoa 2006 2 2 0 0 100% 140 12 +128
 Scotland 1998 3 3 0 0 100% 127 9 +118
 South Africa 2010 1 1 0 0 100% 55 3 +52
 Spain 1998 1 1 0 0 100% 46 3 +43
 Soviet Union 1990 1 1 0 0 100% 8 0 +8
 United States 1990 13 12 0 1 92.3% 567 75 +492
 Wales 1991 4 4 0 0 100% 172 33 +139
  World XV 1990 3 3 0 0 100% 87 22 +65
Summary 1990 107 90 1 16 84.1% 4048 1043 +3005

Rugby World Cup[]

Main article: Rugby World Cup (women's)
Rugby World Cup
Year Round Pld W D L PF PA Squad
Wales 1991 Third place 3 2 0 1 48 21 Squad
Scotland 1994 Did not participate due to late tournament cancellation
Netherlands 1998 Champions 5 5 0 0 344 32 Squad
Spain 2002 Champions 4 4 0 0 202 12 Squad
Canada 2006 Champions 5 5 0 0 202 34 Squad
England 2010 Champions 5 5 0 0 186 33 Squad
France 2014 Fifth place 5 4 0 1 245 37 Squad
Republic of Ireland 2017 Champions 5 5 0 0 299 61 Squad
New Zealand 2021
Total Champions 32 30 0 2 1526 230
  Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place Home venue

New Zealand have won the World Cup five times. They defeated the United States in the final of the 1998 World Cup held in the Netherlands to claim their maiden title. They followed this up with three more consecutive titles, overcoming England in the final of the next three editions; 2002, 2006 and 2010, as well as in their fifth world title in 2017. They lost to eventual winners the United States in the semi-final of the inaugural competition held in Wales in 1991, but were absent from the following tournament in 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup, due to the late cancellation of the event. In 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup, they lost a pool game to Ireland,[8] while the top two teams in another pool drew their match. This saw them miss out on the semi-finals by a single table point, before going on to heavily defeat Wales and the United States to finish the tournament in fifth.

Players[]

Current squad[]

34-player squad for the tour of England and France[9]

Player Position Age Province Caps
Prop 21 Canterbury new cap
Eloise Blackwell (vc) Lock 30 Auckland 43
Lock 25 Wellington 3
Maiakawanakaulani Roos Lock 20 Auckland new cap
Kelsie Wills Lock 28 Bay of Plenty 0
Loose Forward 24 Canterbury new cap
Les Elder (c) Loose Forward 34 Bay of Plenty 18
Loose Forward 20 Wellington new cap
Loose Forward 19 Auckland new cap
Kendra Reynolds Loose Forward 28 Bay of Plenty 0
Kennedy Simon Loose Forward 24 Waikato 4
Halfback 24 Waikato new cap
Kendra Cocksedge (vc) Halfback 33 Canterbury 53
Halfback 21 Taranaki new cap
Ruahei Demant First five-eighth 26 Auckland 11
First five-eighth 18 Auckland new cap
Chelsea Alley Midfield 28 Waikato 24
Midfield 22 Canterbury 1
Stacey Fluhler Midfield 25 Waikato 16
Carla Hohepa Midfield 36 Waikato 25
Kelly Brazier Outside Back 31 Bay of Plenty 40

Previous squads[]

Coaches[]

All head coaches of the Black Ferns (1990-Present). Every Black Fern coach has been a New Zealander.

Name Years Tests Won Lost Drew Win %
Laurie O’Reilly 1989–1993 7 6 1 0 85.7%
Vicky Dombroski 1994–1995 2 2 0 0 100%
Darryl Suasua 1996–2002 23 22 1 0 95.7%
Jed Rowlands 2003–2007 15 15 0 0 100%
Dale Atkins 2007–2009 4 4 0 0 100%
Brian Evans 2009–2014 25 17 7 1 68%
Greg Smith 2014–2015
Glenn Moore 2015– 31 24 7 0 77.4%

See also[]

List of women's international rugby union test matches – the most complete listing of all women's international results since 1982.

Further reading[]

  • Curtin, Jennifer (2016). "Before the 'Black Ferns': Tracing the Beginnings of Women's Rugby in New Zealand". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 33 (17): 2071–2085. doi:10.1080/09523367.2017.1329201. S2CID 148962837.

Notes[]

  1. ^ They are England, France, Ireland and United States.

References[]

  1. ^ "Sport, Fitness and Leisure". New Zealand Official Yearbook. Statistics New Zealand. 2000. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2008. Traditionally New Zealanders have excelled in rugby union, which is regarded as the national sport, and track and field athletics.
  2. ^ rugbybworldcup.com. "Womens Rugby World Cup 2017". www.rwcwomens.com.
  3. ^ "Farah Palmer announces retirement". Archived from the original on 28 October 2006. Retrieved 2 December 2006.
  4. ^ Cleaver, Dylan (23 January 2010). "Rugby: NZRU plan 'will kill women's rugby'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  5. ^ "Black Ferns fall to France in second test". Newshub. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  6. ^ "New Zealand to host 2021 Women's World Cup". The New Zealand Herald. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Women's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Women's Rugby World Cup: Ireland stun New Zealand". BBC. 5 August 2014.
  9. ^ "34-PLAYER BLACK FERNS SQUAD NAMED FOR TEST SERIES". allblacks.com. Retrieved 13 November 2021.

External links[]

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