Layla Sae is back from a ruptured knee ligament in time for the Black Ferns’ European tour, and double Olympic sevens champion Alena Saili is back in a Black Ferns test side for the first time in seven years, after coach Whitney Hansen named her team to play France in Lyon on Sunday morning New Zealand time.
Both players are on the bench for the opening match of the new WXV Global Series at Matmut Stadium de Gerland on Saturday 12 September. Kick-off is 5.45pm in France, which is 3.45am on Sunday 13 September in New Zealand, and the match is live on Sky Sport 1, according to New Zealand Rugby’s team announcement.
Sae, a 25 year old loose forward from the Hurricanes Poua, ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Harlequins in England late last year. She and Black Ferns teammate Liana Mikaele-Tu’u had signed short-term deals with the London club in October. When RNZ reported the injury on 20 December, it said she was likely to spend the first half of 2026 recovering, with a possibility of returning late in the season for home tests against Australia and France. She is back before those home tests, and will play her first test of the year in Europe instead. RugbyPass notes she is returning just nine months after the injury, and will win her 20th test cap if she gets on the field.
“Layla is a powerful athlete that thrives in collisions, she’s explosive and a threat not only in the middle but on the edge,” Hansen said in the New Zealand Rugby announcement. “She’s shown great determination and resilience to get back into the team and we’re looking forward to seeing what she does this weekend.”
Sae made her test debut against the Wallaroos in Hamilton in September 2023 and was part of the squad New Zealand took to last year’s Rugby World Cup in England, according to her Wikipedia entry. That tournament ended with a 42-26 win over France in the bronze playoff, the last time the two sides met.
Saili’s path back has been a much longer one. The 27 year old was born in Porirua and grew up in Invercargill, where she went to Southland Girls’ High School. She joined the Black Ferns Sevens straight out of school and has since won Olympic gold in Tokyo and Paris. New Zealand Rugby’s player profile describes her as the first Southlander to win two Olympic gold medals.
Her fifteens career has been short so far. New Zealand Rugby’s statistics database lists five tests. She debuted at 19 in a 31-11 win over Australia in Sydney on 18 August 2018 and started again against Australia in Auckland a week later. She then came off the bench three times at the 2019 Super Series in San Diego, in a 35-20 win over Canada, a 25-16 loss to France and a 28-13 win over England on 14 July 2019. That England match is her most recent test. The team announcement says Sunday will be her first Black Ferns appearance since 2018, but the database shows those three 2019 appearances, which is why RNZ puts her absence at seven years.
The same statistics profile records how she felt after that first cap. “I told myself I wouldn’t cry but I cried the whole time, just thinking about all the stuff that happened to get me there, especially the sacrifices that my family had to do,” Saili told the Southland Times in September 2018.
Hansen congratulated both players on their selection. “She’s a physical presence in the midfield and is a versatile player covering midfield and the outsides for us,” the coach said of Saili, who she said had “been in the system for a long time which shows in the way she carries herself professionally and her positive impact on the team’s culture.”
There are six changes to the matchday 23 that beat the Springbok Women 52-20 in Johannesburg last Saturday, and two of them are in the starting side. Justine McGregor starts on the wing in place of Ayesha Leti-I’iga, who has a calf injury, and Laura Bayfield starts at lock, with Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu moving to the bench, RNZ reported. Hooker Georgia Ponsonby captains the side after co-captain Ruahei Demant was ruled out of the European tour with a calf injury this week. No. 8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker is also unavailable with a shoulder injury.
The starting side, from one to 15, is Chryss Viliko, Georgia Ponsonby (captain), Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu, Maiakawanakaulani Roos, Laura Bayfield, Mia Anderson, Elinor-Plum King, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Maia Joseph, Hannah King, Justine McGregor, Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai’i Sylvia Brunt, Amy Du Plessis, Mererangi Paul and Braxton Sorensen-McGee. The reserves are Atlanta Lolohea, Maddison Robinson, Santo Taumata, Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu, Layla Sae, Tara Turner, Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a and Alena Saili.
The Black Ferns have won their past six tests, and New Zealand Rugby’s match preview points out how close this rivalry has been. New Zealand won the 2022 World Cup semifinal 25-24, France won 18-17 in Wellington in 2023, and New Zealand then won 39-14 in Vancouver in 2024 before last year’s bronze final.
“France has traditionally played with a lot of flair and unpredictability, we’re also seeing another element to their game under their new coaching group,” Hansen said. “This weekend is going to take us being switched on and staying on.”
Lyon is the first of six Black Ferns matches in the WXV Global Series, which World Rugby has set up to give the 12 top-ranked women’s teams regular home and away tests between 12 September and 31 October. After France, New Zealand play Scotland in Edinburgh on 20 September and world champions England in London on 27 September, New Zealand time. They then come home for three more tests against France, in Hamilton on 17 October, WhangΔrei on 24 October and Christchurch on 31 October.
The Black Ferns have already qualified for the 2029 World Cup in Australia, so these matches are about rankings and building combinations rather than qualifying. For Sae and Saili, they are a chance to push for a regular place in a side that has lost Demant, Leti-I’iga and Olsen-Baker to injury. The home series against France in October will be the first chance for New Zealand crowds to see this reshaped side in person.
Will you be up at 3.45am to watch the Black Ferns take on France, and how do you think Sae and Saili will go off the bench? Tell us in the comments 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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