Black Ferns' luck runs out as Canada expose weaknesses at Rugby World Cup

Sunday, 21 September 2025

ANALYSIS: The reckoning the Black Ferns were overdue hit them hard in Bristol and will hurt for years to come.

Canada’s brutal brilliance shattered the invincible aura the Black Ferns have established with their phenomenal record at the women’s Rugby World Cup.

In their eight tournament appearances prior to their semifinal against the Canadians on Saturday (NZ time), the Black Ferns had been champions six times and never lost in the final.

Black Ferns No 10 Ruahei Demant, left, looking to spark an attack against Canada.

On talent alone, they were merited winners from 1994 until 2022 (with one blip in 2014), but the landscape has changed in the greater prominence of professionalism throughout women’s rugby.

In the Black Ferns’ storied history, their comprehensive 34-19 semifinal defeat to Canada will be remembered as one of the most confronting and symbolic — their first in a World Cup knockout match since the inaugural tournament in Wales in 1991.

Coach Allan Bunting’s tenure has been littered with troubling losses to the game’s other outright top-four sides — England, Canada and France — with a measly two wins from nine against that trio, as well as a shocking 29-27 defeat to Ireland 12 months ago.

Featuring heavily have been a poor kicking game, physical inferiority, abysmal discipline and an awful penalty count against them. The latter was the case again in Bristol and is not a coincidence.

England and Canada, in particular, have tormented them around the breakdown to shut down their vaunted attacking game. And yet it was Canada who looked more ruthless in shifting the ball wide.

The addition of sevens stars, such as Stacey Waaka, Risi Pouri-Lane, Jorja Miller and Theresa Setefano, hasn’t been as effective as hoped, although an injured Miller was a noticeable absentee in Bristol. Who knows what difference she could have made after glimpses of her outrageous skills in England.

The Canadians also gained early control from the Black Ferns’ woeful kicks, desperate attempts to clear the ball with little direction.

Canada marched into the Twickenham final.

Of all their deficiencies, not having a competent kicker is the most telling because it’s such an important way to gain territory and get out of danger.

Ruahei Demant and Renee Holmes, an experienced pair excellent at running the ball, don’t look assured kicking out of hand.

The Black Ferns have tried to bring in two young No 10s, Rosie Kelly and Hannah King, but both fell out of favour. Kelly has gone to rugby league. Veteran Kelly Brazier, after a four-year hiatus from tests, was preferred to King as Demant’s only back-up at first-five.

There is a dearth of elite playmakers.

With tightening defensive lines and their improved coordination as more teams become professional, space is scarce and kicks can scatter the opposition.

The Black Ferns of previous cycles could cope without a quality kicker because they could run teams off their feet with an expansive attacking strategy.

Black Ferns Georgia Ponsonby, Chelsea Bremner and Laura Bayfield dwelling on their semifinal defeat to Canada.

Speed, slick handling, offloads and scything support lines. They don’t come as easily against quality, rushing defence.

While the Black Ferns did threaten to mount a fightback in Bristol with thrilling attacks from their own half, they were scrambling for answers. Canada withstood the assault and finished on the front foot.

Instead of embracing the occasion of a lifetime in next weekend’s Twickenham final against England before a record-breaking crowd of more than 80,000, the Black Ferns have the awkward third-place playoff with France to fulfil hours before. No player wants to be there.

Bunting’s side have failed and fleeting promise was obliterated by a ruthless Canadian machine, a team not supported by a full-time programme like the Black Ferns, raising questions about New Zealand’s structures from top to bottom.

The final whistle sounding when the Black Ferns stunned England in the 2022 World Cup decider at Eden Park.

More than half of Canada’s squad have a regular diet of the strong professional leagues in England and France to harness their talent. They are conditioned for battles with the best and have a greater alignment with their sevens team.

Domestically, the Black Ferns are limited to a shortened, part-time Super Rugby Aupiki competition that can’t replicate anything close to test rugby. Their sevens players are largely unavailable outside of World Cup years.

On the sporting front, it was hard to avoid jumping back to the Black Ferns’ epic World Cup success on home soil almost three years ago. It was a special night at Eden Park when they stunned favourites England 34-31, backed by more than 40,000 Kiwis.

However, it’s often forgotten how close Wayne Smith’s Black Ferns were to never getting there.

They would have lost their semifinal in Auckland had France’s Caroline Drouin booted a regulation penalty goal in the final minute. She scuffed it wide, the Black Ferns snuck into the decider.

England were on a roll until Lydia Thompson’s red card in the 18th minute of the final for knocking out Portia Woodman-Wickliffe. Momentum has rarely swung as violently as it did in the following 62 minutes as the Black Ferns grew in belief and England were rattled on the big occasion.

Granted, it’s impossible to know what might have happened had Thompson not committed to that reckless challenge, but it was to the Black Ferns’ benefit, a lucky break in a match decided by the fingertips of Joanah Ngan-Woo’s lineout steal at the death.

Beaten England coach Simon Middleton said the Black Ferns’ victory was “written in the stars”.

Their semifinal humbling against Canada has been forecast in brewing storm clouds.

Outside back Braxton Sorensen-McGee, 18, has been the find of the season to offset the looming second retirement of iconic winger Woodman-Wickliffe.

Sylvia Brunt, 21, is already an excellent midfielder. Kaipo Olsen-Baker and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, both 23, are two of the game’s most effective loose forwards.

There is no doubting the talents exists in New Zealand ahead of the next tournament in Australia in 2029.

Still, their dreams of an extending an imperious World Cup dynasty vanished in Bristol.

What’s next is uncertain. Whether Bunting stays as coach is unclear. The lack of clear alternatives is another issue. So is the direction of the Black Ferns while their rivals in the north prosper.