England react to dominating 'battle of the titans' to sweep WXV 1
England captain and newly crowned World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year Marlie Packer said she was “on cloud nine” after taking out both the award and the inaugural WXV 1 tournament.
“To be honest, at the end, I actually had some tears. I think, you know, not just the last four weeks, being here in New Zealand, we as a team have been really pushed.”
The 33-12 win over the Black Ferns at Go Media Mt Smart Stadium was a record loss for the world champions on home soil, with Packer’s England side enjoying a stunning opening quarter that saw them lead 19-0.
“It’s quite emotional but I’m just proud of all the girls in the way they performed tonight. They’ve backed up every game. This experience, you know, it’s not just the squad of 23. It’s a whole squad affair. And you know, the girls that didn’t play tonight prepared us for the performance tonight. So, I’ll take my hat off to them as well.”
England interim coach Louis Deacon echoed his skipper’s thoughts.
“You can’t just rely on one part of the game, set piece are one of our super strengths,” Deacon said.
“But like I said before the game, we’re going to need more than that today. The Black Ferns are an outstanding team. They really tested us and I think if you’re going to go toe to toe with them, you’ve got to have all parts of the game going. And that’s what the pleasing thing is. So yeah, like I said before, massively proud.”
Packer dismissed speculation that the win was fuelled by a desire to make up for last year’s Rugby World Cup final loss to New Zealand.
“I think this week it’s been really different,” she said.
“We actually haven’t focused on that at all. Like we talk about the goal we set 11 weeks ago when you start pre-season and you know, the essences kept on coming back to us like you’re feeling like it’s because of this and our target is to be putting in our best performance come this week.”
Black Ferns co-captain Kennedy Simon said it was difficult to stop a Red Roses side in that sort of mood, no matter how good the preparation was.
“They’re methodical, you know,” Simon said.
“A well-oiled engine. We did preview that they were going to carry around the edge like that, and it was just about winning those moments. That’s how they got the first try and then the next one that followed. So I can see it was going to take a little learnings from this. You know, that’s just history. And like I said, they’re a great side.”
Black Ferns Director of Rugby Allan Bunting said his side “didn’t really get their game going.”
“Towards the end of the first half, we didn’t bring them around a bit. And the way we started the second half and if we might have scored one more try, that might have been a bit different. We were let down a bit with discipline and a bit of handling.”
England centre Helena Rowland echoed her coaches assessment of where the Red Roses are at.
“Obviously a big result for us. We felt we’ve been building since had two games, we’ve got a lot of new stuff that’s been brought in and I think you can see today it really starting to come together and yeah, culminated in that result for us.”
Try scorer Sarah Bern said playing the Black Ferns is “always amazing”.
“It’s always going to be a challenge, is always going to be that Battle of the Titans. And you just got to keep going. You got to keep pushing on. It was amazing to play them tonight and it was brilliant just to get the win.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments