'Just luck in the end': Ferns vow to learn from Fiji fright

It was the wake-up call they were not expecting and did not think they needed.

But New Zealand Kiwi Ferns coach Ricky Henry wants his players to learn from the mistakes they made in their 18-12 victory over Fiji at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday and be better for the experience when they host France in Christchurch next Sunday.

The Kiwi Ferns seemed to be on track for a comfortable first hit-out in the Women’s Rugby League World Cup when winger Stacey Waaka scored in the second minute for a 4-0 lead.

But New Zealand struggled to establish field position or dominate possession against some relentless Fijian defence and trailed 12-4 until Waaka’s second try just before the break cut the deficit to 12-10.

That remained the margin until Kiwi Ferns five-eighth Zahara Temara kicked two penalty goals late in the second half, then winger Leianne Tufuga scored three minutes from the end.

“They had a lot of ball, had a lot of possession, but they earned it as well, and the territory was definitely skewed one way,” Henry said.

“I think we made 50 more tackles than them, so our petrol tank was down as well. 
“But again, I felt like we fought our way back, we found a way to get back into the game, and found a way to win the game.

“We’ll take that away, and obviously there’s some things that we need to work on.”

Henry said the Kiwi Ferns drifted away from the way they wanted to play and had to do a better job of sticking to their game plan as they navigate the rest of the tournament.

“We’ve got some work to do when we get back to camp so you can put it a little bit down to being a bit rusty but it’s not the excuse that we’re using,” Henry said.

“They’re a good team. There’s a lot of NRLW players that are in there. 
“It might be Fiji and their first time in the World Cup, but they’re a good team.

“If you look at their team, their halves are pretty steady, they’ve got a bit of strike, and they play some ad-lib footy that’s entertaining and can also ask a lot of questions about your team and your culture and your connection.”

Henry said he had only seen highlights of France’s 58-4 loss to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby last Saturday night but would spend the early part of this week reviewing that match and putting together their game plan.

New Zealand co-captain Georgia Hale said they had concentrated on their own performance in the lead-up to the game and were not prepared for what Fiji presented.

“They were relentless, they kept coming, they played like they had nothing to lose, and they tested our waters for sure,” Hale said.

“To be fair, we didn’t have the opportunity to really analyse what we were coming up against, but what we’d done through the week in terms of our prep and our purpose and what we wanted to focus on, it was on us, and we went far away from our blueprint today.”

The Kiwi Ferns, who won the first three Women’s Rugby League World Cups, are seen as the clear second favourites behind Australia, who have won the past three.

Hale had hoped to see her team make an early statement about their intentions to play physically and play smart but were lucky to escape with a win.