Former Black Ferns coach says they ‘slipped back’ in Europe

‘We had nothing’: World Cup-winning coach Darryl Suasua is worried about the Ferns and how unprepared they were for their tour. Joseph Pearson reports.

FORMER Black Ferns coach Darryl Suasua is concerned with how the team have ‘‘slipped back’’ after returning to test rugby with a bump in Europe this month.

The Black Ferns made their comeback to international rugby after a Covid-enforced absence of 27 months and suffered their four heaviest defeats in history to England and France.

Suasua led the Black Ferns between 1996 and 2002 and was their first coach to win the women’s Rugby World Cup in Amsterdam in 1998, repeating the success in Barcelona in 2002, and was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the game in 2018.

When Suasua was coach, the women’s game did not have anywhere near the same recognition as it does today, with financial support, professional contracts or media coverage, and governing bodies, including New Zealand Rugby, have only started to significantly increase their support in recent years.

However, Suasua said an absence of tests is something the Black Ferns have always had to overcome.

They had to be innovative with their preparation, he said, and played against men’s under 85kg teams in contests that

‘‘were a lot tougher than any women’s games’’.

Suasua said they manufactured matches against women’s Barbarian sides that were of a higher standard than the provincial competition, something the Black Ferns did last year.

He was really disappointed with the defeats against England (43-12 and 56-15) and France (38-13 and 29-7) and how unprepared they were. ‘‘I wouldn’t say the others have gone far ahead, but that we’ve slipped back,’’ Suasua said. ‘‘It’s disappointing, because with the two-year hiatus [of tests], in our time, it was always like that.’’

The Black Ferns played two tests against Australia between the 1991 World Cup and Suasua’s first match in charge in 1996.

‘‘Our support was secondrate. We had nothing,’’ Suasua said. ‘‘But, as long as you gave us a jersey as a New Zealand team, we’ll bust our butts to be the best we can.’’

Suasua said former Black Ferns prop Casey Robertson, who played 38 tests from 2002-14, trained with the Crusaders men’s players under legendary All Blacks scrum coach Mike Cron.

‘‘There was nothing in the women’s game that could match them. The beauty of that is the element of surprise. Suddenly, you turn up on the big stage after two years against them and [the likes of England and France] get absolutely ambushed.’’

The two global triumphs under Suasua kicked off New Zealand’s dominance of the international game, as they won three of the next four World Cups, with their last in Belfast in 2017.

England and France, though, smashed the Black Ferns and are strong favourites for next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.

Glenn Moore, the coach since 2015, said they ‘‘might be underdone’’ against two European heavyweights who had played one another regularly, despite the pandemic, and developed their game.

And so it proved.

Moore’s searching message after the tour finale against France stressed the need for improved physical conditioning.

Suasua said that was a fair assessment as the Black Ferns were, typically, dominated in the final quarter.

Working in a high performance role at Counties Manukau when the Black Ferns won the last World Cup, he said the nine Counties players in that squad weren’t fit enough for

‘Those standards have come home to roost. That’s something the players have got to take on board. They have to set these standards and say ‘you have got to reach these before we give you a black jersey’.’ DARRYL SUASUA, RIGHT

international rugby, but won anyway.

‘‘Those standards have come home to roost. That’s something the players have got to take on board,’’ Suasua said. ‘‘They have to set these standards and say ‘you have got to reach these before we give you a black jersey’.’’

Suasua said England and France had better skills, decision-making, kicking and were outstanding around the breakdown.

‘‘I was talking to a former Black Fern the other day,’’ he said. ‘‘Her comment was ‘they look like what we used to look

like’. Everyone was in good nick and looked fantastic. They have done great work to get to where they are.’’

England and France have benefited from professional competitions ahead of the first edition of Super Rugby Aupiki, showcasing New Zealand’s best talent on a bigger stage.

They will be paid as more players join the Black Ferns on varying semi-professional contracts that started in 2018.

The enormous jump between the Farah Palmer Cup (which is essentially amateur) and test rugby should be eased by Super Rugby’s introduction next March, Suasua said.

‘‘I’ll be interested in the coaching improvements for lineouts and breakdown work – micro skills that have to be worked on – and they’ll benefit from the physicality,’’ he said.

While excited about the challenge of England and France, Suasua said the Black Ferns have lots of work to do if they want to improve in time for the World Cup, starting next October. ‘‘At the moment, I don’t think the Black Ferns have got the ability to change the tactics because the overall skill set doesn’t allow them to do that.’’