Mention New Zealand and rugby in the same sentence and the
chances are the image that most people will immediately conjure up
in their minds is the black jersey, adorned with the silver fern,
that all national teams wear.
The Black Ferns, though, will be wearing white jerseys for
their Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 semi final with France at
the Twickenham Stoop on Wednesday, electing to wear their change
strip because of a kit clash with the traditional blue of their
opponents.
However, while some people may say the aura of invincibility
may lessen a degree without the iconic black jersey and others
point out that the All Blacks lost their Rugby World Cup 2007
quarter final to France when wearing their change strip of grey,
for the Black Ferns the colour is irrelevant.
"It's not usual to see us in a white jersey, but it
doesn't matter what the colour of the jersey is, it's
special to wear it any time and represent the Black Ferns, so the
girls will come out and do the best they can in whatever
colour," insisted captain Melissa Ruscoe.
"We've worn the white jersey in the past and we
haven't lost in the white jersey either, so if people want to
look at it that way then it doesn't really matter I don't
think."
New Zealand did wear their white jerseys at the last World
Cup in Canada against Scotland in the pool stages, coming out on
top en route to claiming a third successive title, with second row
Monalisa Codling among the try scorers that day.
A jersey is a jersey
"It doesn't make a difference if we play in black or
white," admitted Codling, who is playing in her fourth
Women's Rugby World Cup and will win her 30th cap for New
Zealand in the semi final, some 13 years after her international
debut.
"I've played against Scotland twice in my white
jersey and actually had really good games. Regardless [of the
colour], it's still that silver fern, you're still playing
the same game, you've still got the national anthem, we've
still got our haka, so watch out."
France themselves aren't too bothered by what colour
their opponents wear, they just want to ensure they don't end
up on the end of another mauling by New Zealand in a Women's
Rugby World Cup semi final, having lost 40-10 at this stage four
years ago in Canada.
"A jersey is just a jersey and it doesn't stop or
start a game of rugby," admitted back row Claire Canal, who
has scored three tries in WRWC 2010. "We've seen them
play, we know how they play. We are going to try and restrict their
game to allow us to play ours.
"We're not going to make the same mistakes we made
four years ago. Physically New Zealand were an awful lot bigger
than us, and now four years on we are an awful lot bigger.
We're going to defend an awful lot better and they are going to
be the two strengths that are going to help us defeat New
Zealand."
The Holy Grail
Fanny Horta was on the bench for that semi final and will
wear the No.21 jersey again on Wednesday against the defending
champions, hoping that this time France will reach the "Holy
Grail" of a first ever Women's Rugby World Cup final.
"We know they [New Zealand] are one of the best teams in
the world and in the pool stages they scored a lot of points and
they get the bonus points, so to beat them we have to play at their
level," explained Horta, who labels France's tournament so
far as "a progression".
"We're here for one reason and it's to get to
the final ... to the Holy Grail."
Video - WRWC Semi Final Preview
While the French team selected for Wednesday features only three
players from that defeat - all of whom start again on the bench -
the picture is very different for the Black Ferns, who have 10
players who know what it took to beat France, including Ruscoe.
"It didn't feel like it was 40-10, that's for
sure," the flanker recalled. "The history of the French
is to come out with passion and I have no doubt they will be doing
that again on Wednesday.
Putting it together
"In the game in 2006, we made a couple of mistakes on
our line and they scored from. We had to fight back and get into
their half and try and dominate again. I think the French are just
going to come out fighting.
"You look at the history of the French rugby, whether
it's the men or women, they come out and play the big games, so
we can't rest on our laurels and we certainly can't rest on
our last performance. We've got to come out and improve.
"I think we've got to look at the semi final as if
it's another game, and it doesn't matter so much what the
score is, we've just got to win this game and go through, and
that's got to be our focus.
"We haven't really put two halves together at this
stage. We've played a couple of good halves in each game but
that's it, so really now we need to come out and put a whole
game together. It's not been a complete performance, we have
standards within the team and we want to adhere to those.
"[The key] has got to be concentration and the girls
have just got to trust and encourage each other. The type of game
we want to play, mistakes are going to happen. We have to react a
lot quicker so that if we do turnover ball we've got to be
ready to defend and get it back as well as we can."
Hot or cold?
Codling, who will start this semi final on the bench with
Victoria Heighway returning to partner Vita Robinson in the second
row, echoes this sentiment as she hopes to reach her fourth final
and the chance for a fourth title to match her favourite number.
"We are just going to go into that game and know they
will throw everything at us and they're a very passionate bunch
and it's going to be exciting.
"They are like their male counterparts, hot one minute,
cold the next. But they will be hot and firing, they are going to
want that finals berth as well, just as much as us. We will have to
be on top of our game to keep the Frenchies at bay.
"[Four years ago] it was a physical running match and we
like playing the French because of that reason. They play a lot
similar to us, they like to throw the ball around, they've got
pace, and they've got big forwards up front.
"It's going to be a very entertaining
match."
