Black Ferns Pacific Four Squad Breakdown

The first team of Whitney Hansen's reign has been named and she has rung in the changes. Eight potential debutantes named in her Pacific Four Squad see her making good on her commitment to "look at some young talent" this series. New as they may be to the top side, this is a remarkably unremarkable team given all the changes to the women's game since the Black Ferns placed third at Rugby World Cup 2025.

I say that because looking down the squad list, you see a lot of familiar names. The majority of which have been cooking in the development pipeline for some time now. It's a team then that sees talent stepping up as a number of last year's Black Ferns step away into other opportunities.

I have a number of visuals to help breakdown my analysis for you today but let's start with this set.

A full list for you of the noted omissions:
Unavailable for selection: Luka Connor (knee), Kaea Nepia (leg), Layla Sae (knee), Santo Taumata (knee).

Wider training group remaining in camp: Ariana Bayler, Leilani Hakiwai, Marcelle Parkes, Elinor-Plum King, Cilia-Marie Po’e-Tofaeono, Sam Taylor, Holly Wratt-Groeneweg. 

I've been signalling it for a while but the merge of Black Ferns Fifteens and Sevens programmes has been completed with the announcement of this squad. The exodus from the World Cup team sheet has been primarily driven by players returning to sevens. What's different this time is that without the stickiness of Super Rugby Aupiki in the earlier window, we've seen a couple of our fifteens players go with them.

Braxton Sorensen-McGee and Katelyn Vahaakolo now looking very comfortable in the shorter format. This is a fascinating story line to watch as we get closer to the Olympic Games but the takeaway for right now is although this is the same one team mentality that Canada have operated, their players still are playing more quality rugby than us.

Players like Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan, and Gabrielle Senft have all gone from Rugby World Cup to PWR to SVNS series. I expect to see them all named in the Canadian squad for Pacific Four. These women are relentless and will be keen to see the impact of their athleticism in this series.

The other thing to watch is what happens in October. This is when France will be touring New Zealand and is a window where Black Ferns Sevens stars could return. Whether they do or not will tell us just how #oneteam our programme really is.

What about the players that have come in? Well, as I wrote elsewhere earlier in the week, it appears New Zealand Rugby has finally applied men's club rugby wisdom to our top women's team. By that I mean, if you have a solid second team then that's the best place to pull players from when others aren't available.

That's what Hansen's done here. Just as her own pathway to the top has been paved through the Black Ferns XV, her new Black Ferns too have made their way through this feeder. The only exception to the rule is Justine McGregor who comes over from sevens and Shyrah Tuliau Tua'a who has shot into this team like a rocket.

Tuliau Tua'a's path was probably made clearer with Kaea Nepia being unavailable due to injury. Either way the Waikato winger will no doubt grasp this opportunity with both hands.

I am pleased to see Hannah King and Maama Vaipulu both return to the team. They played in last year's Pacific Four and were right in the hunt for selection for the Rugby World Cup. We need to see how King continues to progress, particularly in her kicking. I hope Vaipulu turns up ready to make a statement in Alana Bremner's absence.

There are three players absent that I continue to ponder on for different reasons:

1. Iritana Hohaia is missing from all the lists, does this mean her time with the team is done? Will we see her code switch? Or will she have a real point to prove during Aupiki?
2. Where for art thou Krystal Murray??? We saw her named as first reserve for last year's World Cup but she's missing here. BRING BACK MUZZ!
3. What does Harono Te Iringa need to do to get a look in? We are giving a couple of new props a crack but as a former front rower myself, Te Iringa was higher on my list of next to players to take a look at. She has that grit that good front rowers need and the ball skills to match having played across the forward pack.
   I saw her leadership in action during last year's invitational match for the Wāhine Māori game against Manusina Samoa. She might not be your "typical" Black Fern but none of our best have been.
   

The key takeaway from Hansen's squad is that Black Ferns XV is now essential. Development can no longer mean throwing players in the deep end and then writing them off if they weren't yet strong enough swimmers. We can't just keep burning through young talent like we used to, it is no longer an unending supply as more and more are pursing other options. You need to an incentive now to hold players in the system as they grow and this team is serving that purpose.

With a bigger test schedule, we need a bigger roster. Black Ferns XV doubles the number of players given playing opportunity. Game time is something our high performance pathway has historically been generally allergic to. We have all paid the price for being under cooked. If Black Ferns XV continues to be a success hopefully the concept of game time for development continues to trickle down into the other feeders of this team.

One thing is still clear though, the postcode lottery remains with the bulk of our team coming out of the big three; Waikato, Canterbury and Auckland. What a surprise (not!) that these are also the home to 3/4 of our Super Rugby Aupiki teams. If we really want to be picking from the strongest pool of athletes we need to strengthen our game and our talent ID beyond these boundaries.

And what about Whitney? Well, we will have to wait and see what comes from her. What I can tell you is her first moves are not dissimilar to those that have come before. Our last four coaches have brought in a lot of new players in their first year. Glenn Moore being the only one to select more new players in his final year than he did in his first.

Who of this new crew will stick around through to the next World Cup? Well they've got three matches coming up to introduce themselves into the conversation.

With you,
Alice