Poor decision making and lack of leadership blamed for Black Ferns' loss

Black Ferns coach Allan Bunting has blamed a lack of leadership and good decision making for his team’s shock WXV defeat to Ireland in Vancouver yesterday.

Bunting was visibly disappointed following the 29-27 defeat at BC Stadium, a significant setback after his side’s loss to England at Twickenham a fortnight ago.

New Zealand will face England, the world’s No.1-ranked team again next Monday morning NZT and a third successive Test loss appears a strong possibility.

“Congratulations to Ireland [for] their line speed and defensive pressure and they kept going all match,” Bunting told the host broadcaster afterwards.

“We just didn’t execute and hold on to the ball when we needed to and some of our decision making and some of our leadership on field [wasn’t good enough].”

All of which is true and should put the spotlight not only on co-captains Kennedy Tukuafu and Ruahei Demant, but also on Bunting and his assistants because the Black Ferns finished the match, won in the dying seconds by Ireland, without either Tukuafu or Demant on the field.

Openside flanker Tukuafu was replaced by Lucy Jenkins with just under half an hour remaining, with first-five Demant replaced by the inexperienced Hannah King, 21, with nine minutes left.

Neither Tukuafu nor Demant had their best performances for New Zealand but it did strike as odd that the coaches would elect to finish the match without the pair.

The world champion Black Ferns, who had tries for Luka Connor and Mererangi Paul disallowed by the television match official, were never in control of the Test against the No.7-ranked team in the world despite a weight of possession.

Bunting did not elaborate on his “leadership” criticism in the press conference, adding only: “Probably a few decisions on the field during the game we’ll probably learn [to improve] moving forward.”

The Black Ferns bombed tries for Layla Sae, who made an excellent first-half break but elected not to pass inside to the unmarked Maia Joseph, and Sylvia Brunt, who dropped the ball over the line in the second half, but just as concerning as they look to the challenge posed by England – and next year’s World Cup defence – is their try-line defence.

They conceded five tries in total, all of which came from close range, the final one in the last minute.

Their old vulnerability to the lineout drive has flared up again and every future opponent will be well aware of it.

“It’s a pretty bitter pill to swallow at the moment... but we can’t dwell on our loss,” Demant said afterwards.

“We have England in seven days and the real test now will be how quick can we take and enforce the lessons from this game and put out a performance that we’re proud of next weekend.”

Ireland defended with a rush defence and made life difficult at the breakdown but New Zealand, who played with an unearned arrogance in the first half when refusing to kick for touch in their own territory, failed to see and exploit the space their opponents provided.

They scored three tries – a driving maul score for Atlanta Lolohea and two breakout five-pointers for Katelyn Vaha’kolo and Paul. The breaks for the two latter tries were made near the breakdown as the Irish over-committed but the Black Ferns were unable to keep exploiting that vulnerability.

Despite the losses to France in Wellington last October, England in Auckland last November, Canada in Christchurch in May, and more recently to the Red Roses at Twickenham and Ireland, Bunting said his players were still improving.

There wasn’t much evidence of that yesterday – the excellent No.8 Liana Mikaele-Tu’u aside – and their odds of defending their World Cup title in England next year will be lengthening almost by the week unless something significant changes.

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