{"id":103900,"date":"2025-08-29T09:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103900\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T09:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:21:20","slug":"womens-rugby-world-cup-black-ferns-move-jorja-miller-to-blindside-as-injured-stars-return-for-japan-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103900\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup: Black Ferns move Jorja Miller to blindside as injured stars return for Japan test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Katelyn Vahaakolo starts on the left wing in place of Ayesha Leti-I\u2019iga who, along with midfielder Amy du Plessis and loose forward Kaipo Olsen-Baker, will miss the game due to injury. <\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Other changes to the squad see Chryss Viliko and Tanya Kalounivale start at prop, Georgia Ponsonby at hooker, Maiakawanakaulani Roos at lock, Risaleaana Pouri-Lane at halfback, co-captain Ruahei Demant at first five-eighths, Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai\u2019i Sylvia Brunt at second five-eighths, and Stacey Waaka at centre. <\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Black Ferns director of performance Allan Bunting said after a solid start to this World Cup campaign, the team were now focused on building strength and purpose against Japan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to be here in Exeter and we have had a focused week of preparations. It\u2019s great to have Kennedy and Kate back in the team. Their grit and determination to get to where they are, at a pinnacle event is a special moment for not only for them but the entire squad,\u201d Bunting said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cJapan played well last week, they are well-coached, and we expect them to come out and throw everything at us. We\u2019ve selected a team who we believe will rise to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Liana Mikaele-Tu\u2019u, player of the match in the No 8 jersey against Spain, will provide impact off the bench alongside fellow starters against Spain Renee Holmes and Theresa Setefano. <\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Maia Joseph has been named as the replacement halfback after being a late scratch due to a hamstring injury last week, while Atlanta Lolohea and Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu join Henwood among the match-day newcomers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Black Ferns: 1. Chryss Viliko, 2. Georgia Ponsonby, 3. Tanya Kalounivale, 4. Maiakawanakaulani Roos, 5. Alana Bremner (cc), 6. Jorja Miller, 7. Kennedy Tukuafu, 8. Layla Sae, 9. Risaleaana Pouri-Lane, 10. Ruahei Demant (cc), 11. Katelyn Vahaakolo, 12. Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai\u2019i Sylvia Brunt, 13. Stacey Waaka, 14. Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, 15. Braxton Sorensen-McGee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\">Bench: 16. Atlanta Lolohea, 17. Kate Henwood, 18. Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu, 19. Laura Bayfield, 20. Liana Mikaele-Tu\u2019u, 21. Maia Joseph 22. Renee Holmes, 23. Theresa Setefano.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aFJBXxJcOiL\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/author\/christopher-reive\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Christopher Reive<\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katelyn Vahaakolo starts on the left wing in place of Ayesha Leti-I\u2019iga who, along with midfielder Amy du&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[10960,64,63,303,74980,3933,26046,580,57596,941,25661,22795,25662,8844,38633,30567,9664,760,28331,36437,85,1974,231,1928,319,1050,24351,1720],"class_list":["post-103900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-as","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black","tag-blindside","tag-cup","tag-ferns","tag-for","tag-injured","tag-japan","tag-jorja","tag-match","tag-miller","tag-move","tag-play","tag-pool","tag-return","tag-rugby","tag-second","tag-something","tag-sports","tag-stars","tag-test","tag-their","tag-to","tag-will","tag-womens","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}