NEW ZEALAND’S JOURNEY TO WORLD CUP FINAL

THIS YEAR’S RUGBY League

World Cup saw teams from Australia, New Zealand, France and the Cook Islands touch down in York for a series of head to head games at the LNER Community Centre Stadium.

York Vision attended a number of these games and followed the New Zealand Women’s team on their journey to the RLWC final. (Purely by chance of course and certainly not because this particular writer is from New Zealand. -wink wink- ) But in all seriousness, New Zealand had a fascinating journey to reach the Women’s World Cup final this year, facing off against neighbours the Cook Islands and Australia, before entering a dramatic semi-final against England.

Australia. And what a showdown it was. Equally paired in rugby prowess, the teams were neck and neck for most of the match. Australia showed excellent offence against New Zealand’s always sturdy defence, with vicious tackling from both sides.

The Kiwis quickly pounced on the dodging Aussies, with some tough team tackles and stunning push backs from powerhouses Hufanga and Hall. Slick tries from Apii Nicholls, Page McGregor and Annette-Claudia Nu’uausala seemed to suggest a narrow NZ win, as did an impressive sprint up the pitch from Hufanga tailed by two Aussies.

nal was not the spectacular comeback than the kiwis had hoped for. The Manchester game was less of a battle between old rivals and more so a gradual loss of energy from a long fighting team. Despite general support from the English crowd, the Kiwis failed to continue the momentum of their tournament so far, with the Aussies snatching a 54 - 4 win.

Of course rugby is about more than just points on the pitch, with team’s culture, players’ inspiration and crowd’s engagement also key aspects of the World Cup excitement.

POST-EUROS WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

BY AYESHA BROWN

er noted the vast array of history in York whilst New Zealand’s Brianna Clark had fun exploring the labyrinth of streets and cute coffee shops - “I’ve just loved it.” The greatest significance of the tournament seems to be the vast impact Women’s rugby made on the small York Stadium. Welcoming a green, gold and black sea of over 3,000 Aussie and Kiwi fans to the team’s Thursday night showdown, this Kiwi writer was particularly proud to hear so many southern hemisphere accents in one place.

SINCE THE LIONESSES smashed the Euros over the summer, a whole new spotlight has been shone onto Women’s football.

Coming into my second year of university, I was excited to volunteer as the Captain of my college team and rise to the challenge of planning training sessions.

We had 30 sign ups from the Sports Fair, a record amount for our college.

IMAGE: LUKE SNELL

Right from the get go the New Zealand girlies were a team to watch Unfortunately I was unable to watch this match, but it was a powerful opening. Starting the tournament with a dashing victory over France, the team snatched the match with an overwhelming 46 points to France’s 0, a confident first step along the road to the final. Heading into the second round against the Cook Islands, NZ were playing strong. Despite tough defence from their island neighbours, the Kiwis pushed back with a slew of tries from Raecene McGregor, Krystal Rota and Amber Hall. In an impressive debut Mele Hufanga snatched a race up the pitch before quick fire passing from the Kiwis secured a 22-0 lead.

It was the Cook Islands however who achieved the moment of the match when Mackenzie Wiki found an opening on the corner and scored the team’s first ever World Cup points against New Zealand. The drums played, the crowd cheered and regardless of nationality, everyone was on their feet. However, unrelenting work from the Kiwis inevitably clinched their 34-4 victory, displaying powerful teamwork ahead of their much anticipated showdown with

However it wasn’t meant to be as a swift tackle knocked the wind out of Hufanga and the momentum out of the team, before a nail biting fight to the end left them with a 10-8 loss. But this set up New Zealand for a most intriguing battle against host nation England, just days after New Zealand’s Black Ferns stole the cup from England’s Lionesses in the Rugby Union World final in Auckland’s Eden Park.

Determination seemed to overtake the Kiwis as they stepped out into the sea of England’s fans last Monday. Overcoming a brief spattering of nerves, an early England try and uneven defence, the team quickly turned the match around. Two brisk tries from Hufunga and McGregor edged them into the lead for half time, despite multiple close calls from video refs. But it was the second half which really cemented their finale spot. As Player of the Match Hufunga cleared a path, Otesa Pule smashed a stunning dive for the tryline.

The relentless offence continued as Brianna Clark slid across the line to seal their unbeatable lead. Amongst various captains challengers and strong defence, England fought to the end, and came close to scoring a last minute Hail Mary try - but by then it was much too late.

New Zealand had smashed England 20-6 and were already packing their bags for Saturday’s Grand Final against Australia.

Unfortunately the long awaited fi-

The New Zealanders brought more than just excellent rugby skills with them to York. Opening the match with their much beloved Haka, the country also ensures Maori heritage shone in the national anthem, which plays first in Maori and then in English much to the unanticipated surprise of prematurely clapping English fans. This Pacific culture also shone amongst the crowd, with some audience members swinging Maori Poi and the Cook Island supporters creating thunderous support with pa’u drums, before hanging around to support New Zealand too.

This close Pacific relationship was particularly special as the teams also share somewhat of a family rivalry with New Zealand captain Krystal Rota having two nieces playing with the Cook Islands team. This certainly makes their battle of Hakas intense. Despite some starkly competitive matches, the players were keen to highlight the joy shared between the teams off the pitch. Cook Islands try scorer Mackenzie Wiki described the vibes as “all positive”, whilst New Zealand’s Krystal Rota joked “there’s no mates on field”, but “it’s always a good battle against people you know.”

Outside the stadium, the teams seemed to enjoy their time in York, hosted by the University of York and York St John. The Cook Islands coach, Rusty Matua, described the LNER Stadium pitch as “like carpet out there” and called their experience playing in York as #grateful.

Australian player Sammy Bremn-

But it was Monday’s semifinal that reached near capacity, with over 7,000 England and New Zealand fans packing out the stands. Amongst these vast turn outs was a huge roar of energy, passion and occasionally English booing (all in good fun I hope), before crowds descended to the sidelines ladened with balls and posters, hoping to score signatures and selfies with their favourite Women’s rugby player.

The fandom behind Women’s rugby was ripe in York, and certainly says alot about the future of women’s sport. Fans young and old braved the cold winter evenings to cheer on Women’s Rugby League, for the sheer reason that they love the game. English fans filled the seats of games long before the English team ever made it to York. The support was immense. I even witnessed one young girl cheering for her favourite player (Emily Rudge) from the other side of the pitch, begging her to come over and say hi.

And eventually, despite the noise, Emily did. Kiwi Captain Krystal Rota described this vast support of fans as deeply encouraging “There was awhole bunch of kids coming up wanting things signed. So it was really lovely that we have some support over here because we are far away from home.”

And that is the true power of seeing New Zealand’s journey to the World Cup final. Not the tackles or the wins or the tries. But the power of their character and the crowds inspired by their presence, a team impassioned by their past, encouraged by their heritage and blazing a bright future for women’s sport.

Fast forward to the end of term. We have four consistent players and four others who try to make it whenever they can. I’m so grateful for the players we have, but I can’t help but wonder what happened to the 22 others.

Having few numbers for a seven-aside team brings its own challenges. From no subs, to forfeiting matches and cancelling training sessions, it does sometimes feel like the euphoria of the Euros was a long time ago.

Sometimes, our matches are cut short from Men’s collegiate football running over time, or there’s no one to referee our games.

Despite this, I’ve loved my role and really feel the positive presence of Women’s football at the university.

The Captains all support each other, are competitive and many people work hard behind the scenes to ensure we do have matches each week.

I just hope more girls decide to give football a go, as more numbers bring more opportunities.

GIRLS, COME PLAY FOOTBALL!