15 July 2025
Good morning G&GRs and happy Tuesday. Thanks for staying on the site long enough to get through Bris’s massive Monday missive, it really was quite something. If you haven’t read it yet you can have a look here.
Monday’s news covered a lot of the men’s international games from the weekend, including some very one sided affairs between South Africa and Italy, Ireland and Portugal and the British & Irish Lions against the AUNZ side. Bris didn’t get to cover the Wallaroos game against the Black Ferns, which was played at the Cake Tin in Wellington before the All Blacks test match, so we’ll cover that today, have a look at the squad for the Pasifika team and a bit of general news.
First up, as shown in the cover photo James O’Connor has been called into the Wallabies squad in place of Noah Lolesio.
Black Ferns v Wallaroos
The Wallaroos travelled to Wellington to take on the Black Ferns searching for their first ever victory against the Kiwis. It wasn’t to be, and after a competitive first half that saw Australia trail by just 3 points, the Black Ferns kicked away with it to finish winners at 37 to 12.
There were a few changes to the Wallaroos side with regular starters Eva Karpani on the bench, Caitlyn Halse and Georgina Friedrichs not in the the squad giving Moleka a start at fullback, Caslick at outside centre and Tia Hinds at flyhalf. It was also welcome back to Piper Duck, and to Annabelle Cody who returned after more than 600 days out through injury. Shout out to the Wallaroos second youngest player ever, congratulations to Waiaiai Ellis who made her debut at 17 years and 304 days, only 62 days older than Cailtyn Halse.
The game
Both teams left opportunities on the pitch in the first half which was probably due to solid defence from both sides forcing each team to push passes or lose the ball in contact. New Zealand were off to the fastest possible start with Woodman -Wickliffe scoring the first of 3 tries after 60 seconds, with the winger crossing at the end of a very good back line play.
The Wallaroos hit back quickly with Charlotte Caslick crossing scoring in the 4th minute and with the conversion successful the Wallaroos led 7-5. The score stayed that way until who else but Woodman -Wickliffe scored her second try on 33 minutes, again on the end of a good backline play which saw her in space and bumping off Desiree Miller on the way to the line. That was the scoring for the first half with the Kiwis leading 10-7 at oranges.
The Black Ferns were much more accurate and physical in the second half and dominated territory and possession and, while Australia defended well, ultimately the weight of possession won out and the Black Ferns scored 5 second half tries. Australia struggled to get out of their 22 at times so credit to the Kiwis for the way they controlled the game.
Reigning Sevens Player of the Year, Jorja Miller, was excellent in only her second test match. She played #7 (of course) and was in everything in the second half, dominating breakdowns and scoring a great individual try (though a severe ref may have called an obstruction in her run to the line).
Talking about Sevens players, Tia Hinds went well at #10 and Caslick was very good at #13 for the Wallaroos. Charlotte injured her ankle in the last run to the line, hopefully it isn’t too serious.
I’m going to say that the Kiwis seemed to get the rub of the green from the ref, but it didn’t change the result as the Kiwis were better in the second half, but it did help. That’s 37 games to the nil for the Black Ferns, but the Wallaroos are getting closer.
South African trick plays
South Africa pulled out two unusual plays in the first half, starting with a deliberately short kick off that ended up with a scrum being packed on halfway, and then a deliberate lifting of on of their locks who received a normal pass like a lineout throw (an extra 2.5m in the air). Both were striking and both generated some comments among G&GR writers.
The South African commentators called it outthinking the opposition; I’m not sure. The open play lineout seems weird and it puts their player in an unnecessarily dangerous position. Nigel Owens seems to agree and as quoted on Planet Rugby, “The problem with that play is that you are unable to tackle the player in the air or his support jumpers so you cannot defend it or compete,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
What’s next? Do the Springboks start carrying their player down the field to avoid being tackled, or hold him in the air for a while for him to pass the ball, uncontested and not able to be tackled? The Springboks pulled that move twice against the Italians, wonder how many more times we’ll see it.
As for the deliberately short kick off, I reckon it’s simple, the player who caught the ball was in front of the kicker when it was kicked, and deliberately played at it, therefore he’s offside and it should have been a penalty kick. Owens agreed, ““PK for sure”, he wrote, pointing to the fact that it was a deliberate offence. Although a scrum will be awarded if the ball fails to go 10m from the kick-off or a player is unintentionally offside, the former official states that a penalty can be awarded if it is done on purpose”.
First Nations and Pasifika squad
The squad for the First Nations and Pasifika squad was announced for Lions tour match, which will take place next Tuesday, 22 July at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. The squad looks decent on paper and let’s hope the players have more success in creating a cohesive performance than the AUNZ team did on Saturday in Adelaide.
There are a few players backing up from the AUNZ game and coach Toutai Kefu has called in a combination of experience and emerging players to take on the Lions. Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Pete Samu and Kalani Thomas will back up after Saturday’s AUNZ defeat in Adelaide and I’m sure they’ll be looking to get stuck in and put a more competitive performance.
They’ll be joined by some very good players in Darcy Swain, Seru Uru, Richie Asiata and Andy Muirhead, who all had good Super Rugby seasons and must’ve been close to the Wallabies squad. In total the group is the group is made up of 20 players of Pasifika heritage and seven of First Nations heritage.
The squad list courtesy of Rugby Australia and instagram is shown below.
That’s a wrap.
As always, thanks for reading this far, have a great day and have some fun in the comments.
