Kiwi Ferns lose their crown

Tuesday 22nd September 2009

ONE of rugby league's most impressive winning records quietly came to an end at a suburban Auckland club ground last Thursday night.

With a record to match those of Wigan in the 1980s and St George in the 1960s, the Kiwi Ferns have dominated women's international rugby league for over a decade.

Despite a remarkably small player base - there are just six teams in Auckland, four each in Wellington and Christchurch - the Ferns have turned out some outstanding teams in that time, winning world cups in 2000, 2005 and 2008 and never losing a test series in that time. In last year's world cup, they conceded just three tries in the entire tournament, and hammered the Aussies 34-0 in the decider.

That superiority probably led to their own downfall. Unbelievably, there was no formal domestic competition in Sydney until three years ago, but prompted by the chasm between them and the Kiwis, the Australians have invested and overhauled their women's game in the past few years.

On Thursday, at the Ellerslie club, the Jillaroos, with 12 players yet to finish their HSC (A-Levels), finally triumphed over the Ferns, 16-12.

There was little fanfare either side of the Tasman - indeed, the Kiwi Ferns have had very little recognition of their remarkable success, although there was a significant acknowledgement from the NZRL in January this year when they shared a civic reception and victory parade alongside the Kiwis when they finally held a weekend's celebrations of both teams' world cup wins in Auckland.

Ironically, the Australians have had their hands on the world cup trophy. When the Ferns thumped the Jillaroos in that curtain-raising game to the men's final in Brisbane last November, they didn't get to take the cup home with them. ''When we had it presented at the awards ceremony, their chairwoman leaned over and said: 'You need to leave that behind, you can't take it with you,'' the Kiwi Ferns manager, Juanita Woodhouse later told me.

The trophy, for some reason, was being kept in the Australian league secretary's garage. They finally got their mitts on it in February - after a very long wait. In 2000, there was no actual cup for their efforts, and in 2005, they were merely re-presented with the Tri-Nations trophy they had won against Australia and Great Britain.