Joy for Black Ferns and women's game

It was not the rose-tinted outcome that England wanted, but Saturday’s World Cup final was still, in many ways, a significant triumph.

- Robert Kitson Auckland

As the beaten Red Roses captain, Sarah Hunter, emphasised following her side’s agonising 34-31 loss: People have finally woken up to what women’s rugby is all about.” This was the weekend that changed not just how female rugby players are perceived, but could also yet have a transformative effect on the men’s game. Everyone who attended the final left Eden Park saying the same things: the atmosphere was more family-friendly than the men’s equivalent, the players’ visible enjoyment and sense of adventure

was delightfully infectious and the game itself had fewer stoppages, barely any box kicks and a refreshing lack of caterpillar rucks and reset scrums. In many ways it felt like a springboard to anew age of rugby enlightenment.

With England due to host the next women’s World Cup in 2025, the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, did not hesitate when asked if he now believed a capacity crowd of 82,000 at Twickenham might be feasible in three years’ time. We’ll fill Twickenham,” he replied confidently. We'll get 82,000 people there for the final and hopefully for the semi-final as well. I’m confident we’Il do that.”

He went a step further still, suggesting the entertainment offered by the Black Ferns and Red Roses was better than the current men’s equivalent. Watching that match last night you didn’t feel it was a women’s rugby match. It was a competitive, highly intense sporting event. In many respects it was probably more entertaining than the men’s game,” he said.