Kennedy Tukuafu and Ruahei Demant<\/a> will lead the Black Ferns into battle as co-captains, as the New Zealanders look to defeat Canada<\/a> for the first time since 2023, having lost one and drawn another on home soil in the last 16 months.<\/p>\n New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n View Top 50<\/a><\/p>\n New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n HSBC SVNS Series star Jorja Miller<\/a> will not take the field in this match at Bristol\u2019s Ashton Gate, with the flanker ruled out of the semi-final. While Miller\u2019s absence has been a big talking point for the Black Ferns over the last 48 hours, the coaching staff remain upbeat.<\/p>\n Without revealing why Miller is unavailable, Director of Performance Allan Bunting told reporters on Wednesday that Tukuafu and Layla Sae<\/a> offer their \u201cown special gifts\u201d in the matchday 23. That full-squad mentality was echoed by Christie on the eve of the semi-final.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really confident in our team,\u201d Christie said at Ashton Gate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve said it all along, that we need not only the 32 but the 42 squad that we have back at home. I think you\u2019ve seen with some injuries that we have the quality to come in, so yeah I\u2019m really confident.\u201d<\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s starting XV boasts an impressive lineup of players who have competed in high-pressure matches like this semi-final. There are Rugby World Cup winners and Olympic gold medallists in the side, and some have even done both.<\/p>\n Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Stacey Waaka<\/a> and Theresa Setefano have both won two World Cup titles and are dual Olympic gold medallists in sevens. While Miller isn\u2019t playing, the backrower also won gold in Paris in 2024, as did halfback Risi Pouri-Lane.<\/p>\n Georgia Ponsonby and Maia Roos are among the forwards who helped the Black Ferns win the top prize in women\u2019s rugby 15s three years ago, as the New Zealanders brought an end to England\u2019s incredible winning streak with a thrilling triumph at Eden Park.<\/p>\n Demant was named the Player of the Final that night, while fullback Renee Holmes<\/a> also started that decider. Amy Rule<\/a> and Chelsea Bremner<\/a> also add World Cup-winning experience off the bench, but there\u2019s also a mix of youth, including Braxton Sorensen-McGee on the wing.<\/p>\n New Zealand booked their spot in the semi-finals 46-17 win over South Africa, but the full-time score doesn\u2019t tell the full story. The Black Ferns showed character in that match, rallying after going into the sheds at 10-all, before running away with a confidence-building win.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough our preparation, you see those athletes really stand up with their messaging and also calm,\u201d Christie reflected when asked about the importance of experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you saw any of the footage at half-time of our leaders in particular in that game, we\u2019re under a bit of pressure but what was really impressive was how they brought the group together, their body language, their calm, clear message.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they came into half-time, I know there\u2019s been a lot said about the coaches, but it started with the girls. They had the solutions which was really pleasing for us as coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black Ferns assistant coach Tony Christie isn\u2019t spending any time thinking about who the favourites and underdogs might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-152613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152613","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=152613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Video](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spacer-new.png\")
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\nPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n