A rollercoaster, and then some

By Scott MacLean

A rollercoaster, and then some

Wow. Just Wow.

Even now, the day after the night before, it’s almost impossible to stop buzzing about the culmination of the Rugby World Cup.

It is quite simply, the Greatest Game of Women’s Rugby ever played.

Only the most diehard New Zealanders would have, using their head rather than their heart, picked the Black Ferns. England were an irresistible force, a machine that had plowed its way through 30 consecutive victories, and perhaps the only thing that gave hope was the respective margins against France. But still, this was England, who had absolutely eviscerated the Black Ferns 12 months ago and sent them to the lowest ebb in their history.

And when England went 14-0 up in nearly as many minutes, those memories – or perhaps nightmares – seemed to have returned. No matter “Fortress Eden Park”, the 42,000+ in attendance, or the thousands watching at home or somewhere, the Red Roses were going to do us over again.

But then came the first pivotal moment, with England winger Lydia Thompson given her marching orders after a nasty head-on-head tackle on Portia Woodman. Some hope after a trying start, and when the Ferns barged over it was Game On. But then the restart was botched, and that remorseless English maul had its way again. Even after Woodman’s replacement Ayesha Leti-l’iga crossed, England backed that formidable weapon again to stretch the lead.

Much gets made of being the team that scores either side of halftime, and with hope sagging once again Amy Rule’s try was the shot in the arm that was needed. But straight from the resumption came that next moment, that remarkable try by Stacy Fluhler that will be talked about for years, and suddenly it was a two-point game.

Then came dread, with that maul doing the job for the fourth time in the match and England hooker Amy Cokayne bagging her third.

And then back to elation when Krystal Murray barged over, followed by the tension ratcheting up when Kennedy Simon was dispatched to the bin and leveling numbers numerically.

Then the utter delight when the Fluhler-Leti-l’iga combination did its job and remarkably, the Black Ferns had hit the front.

But it was still far too tense, dreading every penalty that we’d give away would see the ball kicked into the corner and that white wall come at us again.

And that’s what happened. A needless quick tap with only three minutes left followed by conceding a penalty opened the door and that feeling that inevitably England would crash over one more time.

That first attempt was rebuffed, as the Ferns finally sacked the drive. But a penalty had already been committed with Joanah Ngan-Woo playing the English jumper in the air. So with the clock ticking beyond 80 minutes it came again, with the feeling that while we dodged the bullet against France last week, we wouldn’t this time. Not against this remorseless Red Roses machine.

Except this time, it wasn’t. Replacement hooker Lark Davies’ throw to Abbie Ward wasn’t quite on the money and the latter fumbled it, aided by Ngan-Woo’s left hand getting in there as well. The ball fell to Murray, who smuggled it into touch.

Jubilation. Whistle. Absolute scenes. And the collective exhale across the country that they’d done it, and pulled off something that seemed improbable an hour or so earlier, much less 12 months ago.

But amongst the sea of black, 23 white jerseys each completely crestfallen, yet showed total grace and class in the wake of a defeat that was so bitterly tough to take.

Rugby, nay, Women’s Rugby, had truly arrived, providing a spectacle filled with tension, drama, excitement, and intrigue that the men’s game has – in recent times – struggled to reach.

On a personal note I took some delight in the individual roles that Leti-l’iga and Ngan-Woo played; two players who I first met as respective 14-year-olds playing for their college sides and seen grow into world-class players, but world-class people as well.

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