Canada lost to the reigning World Champions, the New Zealand Black Ferns yesterday in the Women's Rugby World Cup opening match. The final score was 66-7 in which the Ferns delivered quite a dominating performance and threw their gauntlet into the ring for the rest of the tournament teams to take notice.
I watched the game on the Score and it really was a game of women vs girls as the Black Ferns had control of the match from the outset and pretty much scored at will. They ran with a pace and strength that the Canadian women (seeded fourth) really couldn’t handle for some reason and had no answer for. Watching the game, we had a problem of over committing to the rucks and mauls which led to numerous overlap opportunities (like odd man rushes in hockey) that, given the speed and skill of the Ferns, was pretty much lethal. Additionally, it seemed like the Canadian backs were guilty of pinching in from outside-in a lot; I don’t know if they were coached to do this (and it seems like a bizarre strategy if they were), but it ended up contributing to the problem as it was easily recognized and exploited. Of course, there was unfortunately a lot of T-shirt and arm tackling on the part of the Canadians which, if not corrected, will definitely ensure an early exit from the tourney.
Offensively, our girls were unable to generate much due to, in part, to an inability to retain possession and run with any pace; but this could be credited to the aggressive defense and tackling of the Black Ferns which was very affective in disrupting the Canadian attack. The Canadians did have some instances of positive play where they were camped in the New Zealand end for brief periods as well as some good individual efforts (half-back Julia Sugawara scored a brilliant try that was reminiscent of Morgan Williams in Mens' Rugby World Cup '99). Hopefully, they’ll be able to build on that for their next match.
On a side note, I was impressed by the level of play that was on display, especially by the Lady Blacks. Even if the speed was a step slower than the men’s game, the skill level shown was very high as the girls threw and kicked the ball around with an ability that was on par with any men’s game and was very entertaining to watch.
Canada’s next match will be against Spain (should be a much easier opponent) on Monday, Sept 5 at the St.Albert Rugby Football Club; kick-off at 5pm (MT, I think). Alternatively, I believe the Score is showing the games live as well. Hope some of you Edmontonians can make it out to support our girls and take in some entertaining and fun rugby.
(Not from the Canada-New Zealand Match; but nice tits! )
I watched the game on the Score and it really was a game of women vs girls as the Black Ferns had control of the match from the outset and pretty much scored at will. They ran with a pace and strength that the Canadian women (seeded fourth) really couldn’t handle for some reason and had no answer for. Watching the game, we had a problem of over committing to the rucks and mauls which led to numerous overlap opportunities (like odd man rushes in hockey) that, given the speed and skill of the Ferns, was pretty much lethal. Additionally, it seemed like the Canadian backs were guilty of pinching in from outside-in a lot; I don’t know if they were coached to do this (and it seems like a bizarre strategy if they were), but it ended up contributing to the problem as it was easily recognized and exploited. Of course, there was unfortunately a lot of T-shirt and arm tackling on the part of the Canadians which, if not corrected, will definitely ensure an early exit from the tourney.
Offensively, our girls were unable to generate much due to, in part, to an inability to retain possession and run with any pace; but this could be credited to the aggressive defense and tackling of the Black Ferns which was very affective in disrupting the Canadian attack. The Canadians did have some instances of positive play where they were camped in the New Zealand end for brief periods as well as some good individual efforts (half-back Julia Sugawara scored a brilliant try that was reminiscent of Morgan Williams in Mens' Rugby World Cup '99). Hopefully, they’ll be able to build on that for their next match.
On a side note, I was impressed by the level of play that was on display, especially by the Lady Blacks. Even if the speed was a step slower than the men’s game, the skill level shown was very high as the girls threw and kicked the ball around with an ability that was on par with any men’s game and was very entertaining to watch.
Canada’s next match will be against Spain (should be a much easier opponent) on Monday, Sept 5 at the St.Albert Rugby Football Club; kick-off at 5pm (MT, I think). Alternatively, I believe the Score is showing the games live as well. Hope some of you Edmontonians can make it out to support our girls and take in some entertaining and fun rugby.
(Not from the Canada-New Zealand Match; but nice tits! )