Speaking from California on Friday morning, Hansen said Demant\u2019s leadership brought plenty to the squad. <\/p>\n
Whitney Hansen: “Every team that we play against is growing every year.” Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019ll probably hate me doing this with her right beside me, because one of the first things I\u2019d say is there\u2019s a real humility to who Lou [Demant] is,\u201d Hansen said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou ask someone who\u2019s the hardest worker in the gym? It\u2019s not the person running around the gym saying, \u2018Hi, I\u2019m the hardest worker\u2019 and Lou really embodies that; always willing to give time to help grow this space and for it to be better. <\/p>\n
\u201cA leader doesn\u2019t always have to be someone that uses words, but Lou is someone who\u2019s incredibly articulate and has a pretty special mana about her that when she starts talking everything just stops. Everyone\u2019s sort of hanging off her, and there\u2019s a real confidence that comes from that because there\u2019s a clear direction of where we\u2019re going and everyone\u2019s prepared to go to war with her. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving that in your team is not always something that you get to come in and just have. It\u2019s often something that you\u2019ve got to grow in leaders. So, for us to be able to have that, and I\u2019ll stop talking now because she\u2019s probably hating this, but it is incredibly special.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Demant is among a host of Black Ferns who have been playing in England\u2019s Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby competition, the majority of the squad come into the series for their first competitive rugby of the season, with Super Rugby Aupiki not starting until late June. <\/p>\n
It comes as the Black Ferns move to an extended calendar of 11 tests this season, with the Pacific Four Series slotting in during the international break in England. <\/p>\n
While new to the group, Turner said the side\u2019s preparation for the series had involved simulations to prepare them for what to expect when they take to the field in America. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe coaching group and the management have created like a training environment where we\u2019re playing internal games. So I feel like I\u2019m ready because we\u2019ve trained how we\u2019re expected to play against other teams. So, yeah, no stress,\u201d Turner said. <\/p>\n
The Black Ferns gets a relatively friendly draw for their first test of the year, with the United States historically being among the weaker teams in the Pacific Four Series. In their most recent meetings, the Black Ferns hold wins of 79-14, 57-5 and 39-17 against the Americans. <\/p>\n
That said, Hansen was quick to bat back suggestions that the hosts won\u2019t be formidable opponents on Sunday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019ve got to be really careful when you use outcome as a measure of performance,\u201d Hansen said. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike, they will be formidable, and I think every team that we play against is growing every year. In the women\u2019s space in particular, we\u2019ve seen some exponential growth and some really different results in that space. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we can expect from them is we know they play a power game. They\u2019re going to try and be physical and come through us and so, therefore, that relentless piece around our defence is going to be really important. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we know that they\u2019ve got some new players as well. They\u2019ve got different coaches and a different crew that have come in there to take over. So, what we know is that we can\u2019t expect what\u2019s always been.\u201d <\/p>\n
Black Ferns v USA (test caps):<\/p>\n
1. Chryss Viliko (19) <\/p>\n
2. Georgia Ponsonby (37) <\/p>\n
3. Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu (3)<\/p>\n
4. Maiakawanakaulani Roos (38) <\/p>\n
5. Laura Bayfield (6)<\/p>\n
6. Liana Mikaele-Tu\u2019u (35)<\/p>\n
7. Kennedy Tukuafu (34) \u2013 co-captain <\/p>\n
8. Kaipo Olsen-Baker (16)<\/p>\n
9. Maia Joseph (16) <\/p>\n
10. Ruahei Demant (51) \u2013 co-captain <\/p>\n
11. Ayesha Leti-I\u2019iga (30)<\/p>\n
12. Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai\u2019i Sylvia Brunt (29)<\/p>\n
13. Amy Du\u2019Plessis (22)<\/p>\n
14. Mererangi Paul (14)<\/p>\n
15. Renee Holmes (29)<\/p>\n
Bench:<\/p>\n
16. Vici-Rose Green (5)<\/p>\n
17. Maddison Robinson (uncapped)<\/p>\n
18. Tanya Kalounivale (27) <\/p>\n
19. Maama Mo\u2019onia Vaipulu (7)<\/p>\n
20. Mia Anderson*<\/p>\n
21. Tara Turner* <\/p>\n
22. Hannah King (10)<\/p>\n
23. Justine McGregor* <\/p>\n
Black Ferns Pacific Four Series schedule<\/p>\n
USA v New Zealand. Sacramento, California. Sunday April 12, 11am.<\/p>\n
Canada v New Zealand. Kansas City, Missouri. Saturday April 18, 10.15am.<\/p>\n
Australia v New Zealand. Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Saturday April 25. 9.45pm.<\/p>\n
All times are NZT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking from California on Friday morning, Hansen said Demant\u2019s leadership brought plenty to the squad. Whitney Hansen: “Every…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11154,7022,8985,10541,3011,27949,305,9088,111,139,69,13572,1562,103127,213,1961,195005,3337,4767,56180,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-373680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-begins","9":"tag-black","10":"tag-era","11":"tag-ferns","12":"tag-four","13":"tag-hansen","14":"tag-have","15":"tag-milestones","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-pacific","20":"tag-plenty","21":"tag-reset","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-this","24":"tag-tick","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-weekend","27":"tag-whitney","28":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}