October 19, 2022
Aggresive play the ticket for World Cup win
A former Kiwi Fern says the aggressive play will be key to New Zealand securing a Women’s Rugby World Cup victory.
Sportscaster Mere Baker, who was part of the team which held on to the Women’s Rugby League World Cup in 2003, says she’s impressed with the Black Fern’s first two victories against Australia and Wales.
She says while Northern Hemisphere teams have a kick-heavy style of play, New Zealand’s aggressive ground tactics should win the tournament.
“So (coach) Wayne Smith has been a bit of a masterstroke. He said ‘look girls, we’re not going to win this game if you guys can’t offload it if you can’t be expressive. We want you to attack everything you can and really create some chaos around that ruck area,’ which means there is some indecision around the defensive area and so it puts real pressure and it keeps the defence under pressure the whole 80 minutes,” Baker says.
New Zealand’s next game is against Scotland in Whangārei on Saturday.