News

The three Counties Energy Heat stars in the Black Ferns World Cup squad have all been named to play in the opening game of their campaign against Australia at Eden Park on Saturday night.

Ruby Tui will start on the right wing while halfback Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu and first-five Hazel Tubic have been listed to start off the bench.

The game is the final match in a triple header to open the tournament in what will be the biggest crowd ever assembled in New Zealand for a women’s sporting contest.

“We don’t want the pressure of the crowd to change anything for our team. We have to be free, play with joy, go out there and love what we are doing,” said Director of Coaching Wayne Smith.

With build up going smoothly, Smith said the coaching group are not set on what their best team looks like at the moment and have made a few tweaks to the match-day 23 for this weekend.

“We have a lot of players that have the ability to fill starting positions, so we need to give opportunities and see who takes them,” Smith added.

The game kicks off at 7.15pm.