“It’s not women’s rugby, it’s RUGBY”.

Such a great game to watch. And I’m not even a huge rugby fan.

And what a game it was! To put it into perspective England won their last 30 games in a row and were the major favourites going into the tournament and also the final.

And then to add to this; the Black Ferns were absolutely in the dumps. They completely overhauled their coaching setup in the lead up to this tournament because they looked as bad as they've ever looked to end last year. England embarrassed the Ferns and now we're here.

Would this game have been a non-contest (maybe slight exaggeration) if England didn’t have someone sent off 20 mins in?

I think so, yeah. But the card was deserved, and you gotta play the game in front of you.

Yeah, I agree. Props to NZ, they still had to turn it around, extra player or no.

I would agree if it weren't for the fact that it meant we also lost Portia Woodman who was on fire before that.

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Yeah, I think it would have been. 14-0 up and NZ were getting crushed by the English forwards but the speed and skill that NZ has in the backline, England needed the cover out wide. Having that taken away, and for 60 minutes no less, is a mammoth ask.

In saying that it was absolutely a red card, all day, every day, and she also took out NZs best player with a concussion in the process.

They were also lucky to not be playing with 13, as there was a deliberate knock down during that piece of play which is a penalty and a yellow card too!

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I was amazed no one was talking about that.

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I was at this game and the atmosphere was incredible. I've been a rugby fan since I was five years old and one of the most amazing things was to hear a chant of "Let's go Black Ferns" with a distinctly female voice contingent chanting it.

All-time classic game

Barest of margins

As a Maori/Kiwi man myself, I have to say that this was a great game but England was definitely the more consistently stronger team. Honestly, if that red card hadn't come out and they had a full team the entirety of the match, they would've won.

This game was absolutely fantastic and the Ferns had some amazing plays that net them the win.

At first glance I thought they defeated “Red Ross”

if you search on google for 'rugby world cup 2022' you get fireworks in your browser forming a new zealand flag :D

This is Rugby Union for those who may be confused, there are still Rugby League World Cups going on.

I know I was confused for a few seconds.

Kiwi’s should’ve been down to 14 as well for a poor tackle on Dow.

England played with 14 tho, compared to Nz 15

Yeah because the player illegally took out arguably New Zealands best player who couldn't continue. Deserved red.

You speak the truth

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Rugby is not coming home!

Not saying the red wasnt deserved

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Yes!! Very excting game!

They were the favorite team alright, The Black Ferns held on and made it count!

That basically made this a 10 v disabled 11 match. So it balanced out.

It would have been a penalty and not a yellow; since there was cover.

Even so you don’t chain penalties like thatz

Edit: downvoted for knowing the laws? I’ll explain, deliberate knock on is a penalty - not an automatic yellow card. It is escalated to a yellow card normally if your stopping a line break. If it’s close enough to be stopping a try that would be a penalty try and a yellow card. It was only a penalty and because the foul play was picked up and awarded no further action was warranted.

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Usual England bottle merchants

Girls? Their forwards are frickin mini steam rollers.

Ill change it to women. Is that why im getting downvoted? Not sure

Lol no, i suspect your downvotes are because it seems you're suggesting that England only lost and NZ only won because England were down a player. But um can we all just agree that there is no possible way to know what the outcome would have been with a full team.

Well it definitely gives a big advantage to Nz, but yes its impossible to know if england would have won even with 15 players.

An advantage yes.

And think about it, if we start attributing the win/loss to the fact that England only had 14 players, then you end up heaping the blame for the loss squarely on the red-carded player, and thats not fair.

Yeah - although the result was almost certainly a result of the deserved red card

Cricket tomorrow. Lets see what happens

You don’t need “2022” in the search.

This was actually the 2021 World Cup.

And then England ended up a yard away, but couldn’t get it in.

Playing down a woman the majority of the game hurts one’s chances. Had it been even sides I don’t think it’s close.

NZ was done 14-0 and getting crushed when it happened. They absolutely were not going to be in it.

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They were? Simon was appropriately yellow carded for the high tackle, but because the contact was indirect (contact first with the shoulder then slipped up), then under the rules framework she was given a yellow card not a red. It was very clear and explained on the broadcast.

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Yeah I was interested in that call because while initial contact was made arms around the shoulders, it wasn't the arms that then slipped up and made contact with the head, it was direct head:head contact - something that had been penalised in the round games.

Definitely lots of inconsistencies in the reffing this WC

ETA: penalised more severely*

The tackling is getting really bad. They all want to poach the ball and then refuse to get low. I'm seeing at least a concussion or HIA in basically every game I watch.

It's happening at the lower levels, too. I'm a ref and I call multiple high tackles per game because no one wants to go low anymore.

Nah, it's women's rugby. That's not to take anything away from these women, but the sport is very different between men and women.

NZ fan here and I agree. I would have sent her off. The variances in how head to head contact is officiated across the entire sport is getting ridiculous.

But can we also talk about whatever the fuck the doctors were doing allowing Dow to stay on the pitch? She could barely walk when they got her up.

Inshallah

It’s not “men’s rugby” though, is it?

2011 al over again

It would have been a penalty and a yellow but not a penalty try.

And they do chain penalties like that in Rugby. You often hear a ref say there is a new advantage after a previous advantage, often for off sides when teams are in the attacking zone and the new penalty is closer to the posts.

Short answer: no. The vernacular for mens rugby is just "rugby." The language hasn't evolved beyond that at this point. It's kind of an "it is what it is" thing right now.

You can dislike the gendered language as it's not particularly inclusive, but if you watch much rugby you will see that they are effectively different sports. It's like tennis. Even Serena Williams said very clearly that mens and womens tennis are different sports due to the physiological differences between men and women in sports where strength is required.

BTW: I'm not advocating for anything with respect to what language we use. It just is how we refer to the sports at this point.

Edit: to expand a little, should we call 7s just "rugby" or should we differentiate because it's so different than traditional rugby union? What about rugby league? 10s? Etc. Is Ruby Tui wrong for referring to her sport as "womens rugby"?

The biggest and best version of something tends to just be called that thing with no qualifiers. Like "the world cup" refers to the mens football world cup unless otherwise specified

Pakistan, baby.

I'd prefer my boys to have been knocked out by the Champs, not the runners up. 😆

Lol how on earth do you know that though? So you would blame England's loss on that one red-carded sheila? Rude.

They were for 10 minutes, I don't think having Kennedy Simon for five minutes longer than we would've if it were a red changed the outcome much.

Not sure why the downvotes. I’m a Black Ferns fan and I freely admit that I don’t think they could have beaten England if it was 15 vs. 15 for the full game.

You’re basically making my point for me though. It isn’t inherently the best. Especially here in NZ at the moment

Obviously it is the best and the fact that the men's team came 3rd after winning the last two hardly proves much

Yeah that is an absolute disgrace from the medical personnel involved. Should have been taken straight off for a HIA.

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While I'm not personally interested in watching womens sport, it's great that women themselves seem to be getting behind it, which is what it needs to be successful.

We've just gotta be proud of them. Even playing with 14 they were excellent and was close enough that it could've gone either way.

Nobody can take anything away from the Black Ferns. Some of those tries were magic and ultimately you can only play the game in front of you.

All in all, I feel for the England team but what a fantastic showcase for women's rugby.

I don't think "men's rugby", as you call it, is gendered. I think it's open to all.

Not just women's rugby, but rugby totally! So much spirit and passion, some great plays on both sides and a couple fumbles here and there to remind us that even though they're absolute machines, they're still human. Just an absolutely brilliant game all around and a fantastic end to the World Cup!

100% agree. They're all a credit to rugby

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