Crowding into a hotel meeting room, the England Red Roses watched as the Black Ferns and France played out a brutal semifinal encounter at Eden Park, just hours after they’d played out their own epic win over Canada to seal their place in the Rugby World Cup grand final.
Nursing several bumps and bruises, the players piled into the room minutes before the end of the first half, making themselves comfortable ahead of one of the most enthralling World Cup games to ever be played. Shouting out their own commentary and enjoying the occasion, the team waited with bated breath as France’s Caroline Drouin lined up a penalty kick to potentially send France into the decider.
The fly-half would send it to the left of the post, straight into Black Ferns co-captain Kennedy Simon’s arms, and the rest is history. The Black Ferns survived 25-24 and booked themselves into a home grand final in front of a sold-out Eden Park crowd. It was exactly what England flanker Marlie Packer wanted.
A three-time World Cup veteran, Packer had mulled over who she’d prefer to face in the World Cup decider: France? A side they’d played and beaten multiple times previously. Or New Zealand? A team she’d lost to in the 2017 World Cup final in Belfast. In the end, a chance to get revenge won out.
“It’s a tough question isn’t it?” Packer told ESPN. “For me, personally, I’ve played Six Nations against France in France where the crowds were all against us and we did the job, we haven’t lost against France in a very long time.
“We beat them in the pools, and we could beat them in the finals hypothetically, so would we like to play France for a Six Nations World Cup? For me, no.
“In 2014 I won against Canada, but I lost against New Zealand in 2017. So, for me, the final is New Zealand-England. For me, that would be the pinnacle because I’ve not beaten them in a final before. I have beaten New Zealand on a fair few occasions but never in a World Cup final.”
Enjoying the game for the spectacle it was Packer acknowledged just how physical the match had been and how close her side had come to playing their old Six Nations rivals.
“It was a great game, a very physical game of rugby, that you know either side could have won it. The way France played was phenomenal, the way New Zealand played was really good as well. It was just that kick at the end and it could have been a whole different World Cup and then we would have been sitting here talking about a France-England World Cup final. It’s crazy.
“But it’s a New Zealand-England final and I’ve not come here for a silver medal again, so we need to get that win.”
Asked her thoughts on the Ruby Tui try that saw the Black Ferns wing chase down a stabbed through kick from fullback Renee Holmes and smash the ball down inches before the dead ball line, Packer was impressed, but not as impressed as her teammate Abby Dow’s efforts earlier that day.
“It was great try you can’t take anything away from it can you,” Packer told ESPN. “The little kick through there, it was great, but to me it’s just another try. I think the Claudia MacDonald and Abby Dow try was much better, sorry.
“Some of the tries that did come through and how they scored them, like the one with Stacey [Fluhler] on the wing, they’re quite classic New Zealand tries. But that’s where we’re not going to let that happen or allow them to do that.
“Full credit to them, they’re in a World Cup final in their own backyard. The pressure must have be on them. The pressure on them to get to the final at their own World Cup would have been high, so now it’s for them to recover quickly this week and be able to go out and do it again on Saturday.”
Returning to Eden Park for a second straight week, Packer won’t let the so called ‘Eden Park aura’ affect her or her team. A happy hunting ground for the All Blacks for over 30 years, the Black Ferns have started their own unbeaten run at the ground, winning 10 games on the trot at the venue including two against England, but the flanker isn’t buying into it.
“I’ve played New Zealand there twice and I have lost both times,” Packer told ESPN. “But I don’t think there’s an aura about it and actually I think there’s an aura about us at the moment. Wherever we are playing, whatever we’re doing, I believe that we can win that game and whether it’s a World Cup or not the occasion would be massive, but all the pressure is on them.
“It’s their home turf, they need to turn up and perform. There’s a lot probably being said in the media about how they performed against France and how things need to change if they’re going to win it, so that’s for them to deal with, we just need to make sure we get our stuff right this week and we turn up on Saturday.”