A few unavailable players so hard to know their best 23. No Leti-I’iga.

1 Pip Love (19)
2 Luka Connor (8)
3 Amy Rule (6)
4 Joanah Ngan Woo (10)
5 Chelsea Bremner (5)
6 Liana Mikaele-Tu’u (6)
7 Sarah Hirini (10)
8 Charmaine McMenamin (27)
9 Kendra Cocksedge (61)
10 Ruahei Demant (20) – Captain
11 Ruby Tui (4)
12 Theresa Fitzpatrick (12)
13 Amy du Plessis (3)
14 Portia Woodman (19)
15 Renee Holmes (4)

16 Georgia Ponsonby (6)
17 Awhina Tangen-Wainohu (1)
18 Santo Taumata (1)
19 Maiakawanakaulani Roos (7)
20 Kendra Reynolds (5)
21 Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu (9)
22 Stacey Fluhler (20)
23 Hazel Tubic (16)

Unavailable due to injury: Alana Bremner, Tanya Kalounivale, Krystal Murray, Kennedy Simon

I quite like that side. Obviously giving Hirini a chance to adjust.
Not going to learn a lot against Japan (ranked 13) but I would expect to see some combinations working well.

Pretty poor from Japan. Women against girls really.
The size of NZ's front row....... bit unfair really.....

Smith will be getting a lot from this though. Being able to showcase skills means the real skill differences show out. Show far the 7s girls in the backs are a cut above with instincts and skills.
The forwards are having an easy time but the decision making is pretty good.
Confidence building game.

Fluhler and Woodman absolute class. 7!! Tries for Portia so far. Will really be causing some selection questions.
Santo Taumata could be a dark horse for the BFs in the cup. Only 19, powerful scrummager combined with the energy of youth when charging forwards and good handling skills.

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Pretty poor from Japan. Women against girls really.
The size of NZ's front row....... bit unfair really.....

Their nine is the same height as my 12 year old son

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

Of course it will be won in the forwards. Our only chance against the pro teams is to take as much away from a forward battle as possible.
In the second test against Oz, Tui was the only Sevens player in the 23 so I'm not sure where you are going with that comment.
I am talking about the injection and linking of Fluhler, Fitzpatrick and Woodman. That brought speed and accuracy that I haven't seen from the XVs girls.
I think it is quite possible that we make the final. We simply do not know what the gap is in the forwards against the like of england at the moment. We have improved massively since that tour but a still a few years behind in having the ability to put full-time effort into training like they have.
What we do need is an ability to make the most of whatever ball we get which is where Smith is targeting.

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

Of course it will be won in the forwards. Our only chance against the pro teams is to take as much away from a forward battle as possible.
In the second test against Oz, Tui was the only Sevens player in the 23 so I'm not sure where you are going with that comment.

How disingenuous to ignore the first test against a deplorable Aussie team.

I am talking about the injection and linking of Fluhler, Fitzpatrick and Woodman. That brought speed and accuracy that I haven't seen from the XVs girls.

Anyone looks good against such outclassed opposition. Japan women ffs. They're at their 1987 male counterparts level of development.

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

Of course it will be won in the forwards. Our only chance against the pro teams is to take as much away from a forward battle as possible.
In the second test against Oz, Tui was the only Sevens player in the 23 so I'm not sure where you are going with that comment.

How disingenuous to ignore the first test against a deplorable Aussie team.

I am talking about the injection and linking of Fluhler, Fitzpatrick and Woodman. That brought speed and accuracy that I haven't seen from the XVs girls.

Anyone looks good against such outclassed opposition. Japan women ffs. They're at their 1987 male counterparts level of development.

Yeah, OK. Missing the point entirely.
Are you looking for something to be negative about after the ABs gave you little?

BTW, in the first game it was just Tui on the wing and Fitzpatrick at 12 for about 60 minutes with a short cameo from TNW. Still not sure why you are using those games to try and negate a point about good combinations from the 7s girls. That's a big difference to having Tui, Woodman, Fluhler, Fitzpatrick running off each other combined with some linking from Hirini

No one is under any illusion that we aren't the best team or the favourite for the RWC but if we need a way to win this is probably the best chance unless we find a time machine and talk the NZR into professionalising the game 5 years ago.

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

Of course it will be won in the forwards. Our only chance against the pro teams is to take as much away from a forward battle as possible.
In the second test against Oz, Tui was the only Sevens player in the 23 so I'm not sure where you are going with that comment.

How disingenuous to ignore the first test against a deplorable Aussie team.

I am talking about the injection and linking of Fluhler, Fitzpatrick and Woodman. That brought speed and accuracy that I haven't seen from the XVs girls.

Anyone looks good against such outclassed opposition. Japan women ffs. They're at their 1987 male counterparts level of development.

Yeah, OK. Missing the point entirely.

Not really. You're the one that thinks to combat England's capable forwards, beating up on Japan is something that 'Smith will be getting a lot from'. England's backs are better and the platform afforded our backs against Japan won't exist.

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

Of course it will be won in the forwards. Our only chance against the pro teams is to take as much away from a forward battle as possible.
In the second test against Oz, Tui was the only Sevens player in the 23 so I'm not sure where you are going with that comment.

How disingenuous to ignore the first test against a deplorable Aussie team.

I am talking about the injection and linking of Fluhler, Fitzpatrick and Woodman. That brought speed and accuracy that I haven't seen from the XVs girls.

Anyone looks good against such outclassed opposition. Japan women ffs. They're at their 1987 male counterparts level of development.

Yeah, OK. Missing the point entirely.

Not really. You're the one that thinks to combat England's capable forwards, beating up on Japan is something that 'Smith will be getting a lot from'. England's backs are better and the platform afforded our backs against Japan won't exist.

No shit Sherlock but we still have to try and beat them don't we? Best option is through back play that England don't get to experience often. Their forwards are dominant enough that it is pretty rare that the opposition fires too many shots in the backs.
Smith is trying to remove the ruck as much as possible and have set piece that can hold its own.
What's wrong with that? To your point, if we are then going to beat their backs he needs to put better than average backs.
What he would have got from yesterday is that we have the skills to play that game in an opposed training run and we haven't seen that so far for long periods. Not against USA, not against Canada, not even against an abysmal Oz team. I think he will like what he saw.
Woodman alone makes a huge difference.

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@antipodean said in Black Ferns v Japan:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though.

How do you come to this conclusion from a barely opposed training run? Skills under pressure are what counts.

Of course they do but first off you have to have those skills.
In the womens game there are only a handful of teams that can test them with pressure and at FPC it is sometimes difficult to even show if you have the skills given the mix of players around you.
A warm up like this is far from perfect but there is some value you can take from it. For example I think it may have shown just how much better the instincts and skills of the sevens players is for this style and they have also shown abilities under pressure.

The tests against Australia showed me that some of the 7s players went looking for space that didn't exist. The WRWC will be won by the forwards.

Of course it will be won in the forwards. Our only chance against the pro teams is to take as much away from a forward battle as possible.
In the second test against Oz, Tui was the only Sevens player in the 23 so I'm not sure where you are going with that comment.

How disingenuous to ignore the first test against a deplorable Aussie team.

I am talking about the injection and linking of Fluhler, Fitzpatrick and Woodman. That brought speed and accuracy that I haven't seen from the XVs girls.

Anyone looks good against such outclassed opposition. Japan women ffs. They're at their 1987 male counterparts level of development.

Yeah, OK. Missing the point entirely.

Not really. You're the one that thinks to combat England's capable forwards, beating up on Japan is something that 'Smith will be getting a lot from'. England's backs are better and the platform afforded our backs against Japan won't exist.

No shit Sherlock but we still have to try and beat them don't we? Best option is through back play that England don't get to experience often. Their forwards are dominant enough that it is pretty rare that the opposition fires too many shots in the backs.
Smith is trying to remove the ruck as much as possible and have set piece that can hold its own.
What's wrong with that? To your point, if we are then going to beat their backs he needs to put better than average backs.
What he would have got from yesterday is that we have the skills to play that game in an opposed training run and we haven't seen that so far for long periods. Not against USA, not against Canada, not even against an abysmal Oz team. I think he will like what he saw.

Yeah what we learnt against teams ranked sixth, third and seventh can be discarded for what we did against a team ranked 13th. :face_with_tears_of_joy:

Shall we let Smith himself have the final say?

"Smith was involved in many one-sided blowouts during his time with the All Blacks and he knows how to judge whether this 15 tries-to-two victory was down to the Black Ferns being exceptional or Japan not at his team’s level to begin with.

“I was surprised with the score,” he said.

“We were surprised at our accuracy. You could go through a training run and drop all of those balls.

“To play the game we want to play you’ve got to free up and you’ve got to love what you’re doing and I think we saw that today.

“Japan might have been overwhelmed a wee bit, they’ve had a bit of travel too.

“They’ve been over in Ireland, so there’s a bit of both.

“But I like the fact that we’ve been practising that sort of game and the girls want to play it and that’s the key for me.”

Seems to me he got what they had been training for and is pleased.

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Shall we let Smith himself have the final say?

"Smith was involved in many one-sided blowouts during his time with the All Blacks and he knows how to judge whether this 15 tries-to-two victory was down to the Black Ferns being exceptional or Japan not at his team’s level to begin with.

“I was surprised with the score,” he said.

“We were surprised at our accuracy. You could go through a training run and drop all of those balls.

“To play the game we want to play you’ve got to free up and you’ve got to love what you’re doing and I think we saw that today.

“Japan might have been overwhelmed a wee bit, they’ve had a bit of travel too.

“They’ve been over in Ireland, so there’s a bit of both.

“But I like the fact that we’ve been practising that sort of game and the girls want to play it and that’s the key for me.”

Seems to me he got what they had been training for and is pleased.

Yeah, we'll pretend that's the same as you asserted.

@antipodean you still have a problem with this?

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Japan:

Smith will be getting a lot from this though. Being able to showcase skills means the real skill differences show out.

I think maybe you're misinterpreting or jumping at shadows