The Black Ferns will play a test in South Africa for the first time on Saturday, and they will do it with a new captain leading them onto the field at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
New Zealand Rugby named the side on Thursday, with hooker Georgia Ponsonby starting as captain for the first time. Ruahei Demant, who keeps the co-captaincy, drops to the reserves, and Hannah King takes over the first five-eighth jersey. Kick-off is 1.30pm South African time, which is 11.30pm on Saturday night in New Zealand.
Head coach Whitney Hansen said the reshuffle was about spreading the leadership load rather than dropping anyone. “The changes create a great opportunity for both Georgia and Hannah to grow their leadership,” she said. “Georgia is one of our on-field leaders, has a strong understanding of our rugby identity and has the presence to lead as captain.”
On moving Demant to the bench, Hansen said the decision was about the years ahead. “Ruahei is an exceptional game-driver and important leader for us. What we know is we need to continue developing more players who can step into these roles, and this is great opportunity for Hannah to grow her leadership and game-driving abilities.”
The rest of the side has a familiar look. Chryss Viliko and Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu pack down either side of Ponsonby, with Maiakawanakaulani Roos and Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu in the second row. Mia Anderson, Elinor-Plum King and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u make up the loose forwards. Maia Joseph starts at halfback, Sylvia Brunt and Amy Du Plessis pair up in the midfield, Ayesha Leti-I’iga and Mererangi Paul take the wings, and Braxton Sorensen-McGee is at fullback.
Atlanta Lolohea, Laura Bayfield, Tara Turner and Justine McGregor all return to the matchday 23 on the bench. Kaipo Olsen-Baker, who was one of the standouts of last year’s World Cup campaign, is unavailable with a shoulder injury.
The two countries have only met twice before, both times at World Cups in England. New Zealand won in 2010, and last September the Black Ferns beat South Africa 46 to 17 in the quarter-final at Sandy Park in Exeter. That scoreline flatters the winners. The sides were locked at 10-all at half-time, with Babalwa Latsha and Aphiwe Ngwevu crossing for South Africa, before New Zealand pulled clear after the break.
Saturday is the first time the fixture has been played anywhere other than a World Cup, and the first time it has been played in Africa. The match is the curtain-raiser to the third test between the All Blacks and the Springboks, which starts at 5.10pm local time in front of a crowd expected to fill most of a stadium that seats close to 95,000, the largest in Africa and the venue for the 2010 football World Cup final.
That is a very different setting from the ones the Black Ferns have played their South African opponents in before, and it is a bigger stage than the women’s game in South Africa has ever had at home.
The Springbok Women arrive at it in unusual circumstances. Head coach Swys de Bruin resigned this week, days out from the biggest match the team has played on home soil. SA Rugby said it would not comment further on the departure while the squad prepared. Laurian Johannes-Haupt and Franzel September, who ran the team through campaigns in Kenya and Fiji, have stepped up as co-head coaches.
Johannes-Haupt said the group had grown since the World Cup meeting. “We have managed to build some extra depth since that match earlier this season when we played in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup and the two series against the USA Eagles Women and Fijiana,” she told RugbyPass.
She also made it clear South Africa is not planning to play a reactive game. “We believe this is the right squad for this game, and we go to FNB Stadium with a very specific game plan in mind,” she said. “We have certain characteristics as Springbok Women and that include being very physical in our first phase, so there is no reason to move away from that.”
“We are aware of what the Black Ferns will bring, but selected this group because we want to play a certain way, not in reaction to who might be in their team,” she said.
Anyone who watched the World Cup quarter-final will know that first-phase physicality is not an idle boast. South Africa reached the knockout rounds for the first time in that tournament and now sits tenth in the world rankings, its best position.
The Black Ferns come in off a comfortable outing. They beat the Wallaroos 66 to 19 at Go Media Stadium on 22 August to hold the Laurie O’Reilly Cup, a result that stretched their unbeaten run against Australia to 30 matches going back to 1994. Sorensen-McGee, Viliko, Demant, Mikaele-Tu’u, Roos and Leti-I’iga all scored, and Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a and Amarante Sititi both scored on debut.
Johannesburg is only the start of a long month. The tour continues with France in Lyon, Scotland in Edinburgh and England at Allianz Stadium in London on 27 September New Zealand time, all part of the WXV global series. Three more tests against France follow at home in Hamilton, WhangΔrei and Christchurch in October.
Those matches are the ones that will shape the rankings. Saturday’s is the one that has not happened before. For a Black Ferns side rebuilding its leadership group after a World Cup win, playing a first test on South African ground in front of a Soweto crowd is about as useful a place to start as the schedule could have offered.
The match is live on Sky Sport. What do you make of the call to start Ponsonby and hold Demant back on the bench? Leave a comment below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
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