New Zealand women's national rugby union team

The team's nickname combines the colour black and the silver fern, which are iconic New Zealand sporting symbols. For example, the All Blacks is New Zealand's famous men's rugby team, the Black Caps is the men's cricket team, the White Ferns is the women's cricket team, while the Silver Ferns is the national women's netball team.

Starting with the inaugural International Rugby Board (IRB)-sponsored Cup in 1998, the Black Ferns won four consecutive World Cups, including the 2002 World Cup in Barcelona, the 2006 World Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and the 2010 World Cup in London, England. Most recently, the Black Ferns have won their 5th World Cup, beating the English team in Belfast on 27 August 2017.[2]

The Black Ferns have participated in most WRWC events since its inauguration in 1991, only missing the 1994 championship in Scotland. They also won the Canada Cup in 1996, 2000, and 2005, and the Churchill Cup in 2004.

Farah Palmer was captain of the Ferns from 1997 to 2005, when she lost her captaincy due to a shoulder injury. That year, she was honoured as International Women's (Rugby) Personality of the Year at the IRB Awards. For the 5th Women's Rugby World Cup in Canada, Palmer fought her way back into the team and again led the it to World Cup victory. After the win, Palmer announced her retirement from the Black Ferns in September 2006.[3]

From 2002 until their last game of 2009, the Black Ferns enjoyed a streak of 24 consecutive test match wins spanning almost 9 years.

While rugby is the most popular spectator game in New Zealand, the Black Ferns have suffered in the past from similar problems to any women's sport: under-funding, lack of support and lack of publicity. The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and IRB have been criticised for not doing more to promote women's rugby, although support is beginning to improve in those organisations, in large part due to the Ferns' successes. The NZRU started funding the Black Ferns in 1995, thus giving a great boost to their game. Accordingly, the Black Ferns have benefitted from being included in NZRU High Performance initiatives. Along with professional coaches the team has had access to professional development resources such as analysis. In more recent times, the team's profile has risen greatly at a grassroots level, due in great part to their string of successes, and it is increasingly seen to be a national team on the same basis as any other.

In January 2010, the Women's Provincial Championship (WPC) came under severe threat after the NZRU announced that the championship series would have to go due to budget cuts. As the championship was a prime builder of training, skill and competition for New Zealand women's rugby, the decision was a shock for players and supporters, including former captain Farah Palmer (especially since it was a World Cup year).[4] NZRU said women's domestic rugby was one of many victims of the tight financial times. They faced a barrage of criticism for their decision, and eventually reinstated the WPC after the Black Ferns won the 2010 World Cup.

The WPC was renamed the Farah Palmer Cup in 2016, in honour of the influential former captain.

In 2018, after the success of New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team, all Sevens and Black Ferns players have been offered semi-professional contracts. They also played the first Test series against Australian Walleroos, which was played on the same night as the Men's Bledisloe Cup Tests.

The 2018 season finished with a 1–1 drawn series against France, with France becoming only the fourth team in the world to beat the Black Ferns. The Black Ferns' loss in the final game of the year ended a 17-month long winning streak and was also the final game for captain Fa’amausili, who retired from international rugby.[5]

In 2019, the Black Ferns won the annual Women's Rugby Super Series for the second time.

New Zealand will host the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup after beating out neighbour Australia for the rights.[6] New Zealand automatically qualified for the 2021 event as host.

Squad for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland[7]

Note: Due to the lighter schedule for women's rugby, caps include provincial and international fixtures

The first four games listed below – played at RugbyFest 1990 – are not generally accepted as being internationals by New Zealand authorities. However, in men's rugby it is general practice to award full international status to any games where ONE side considers a game to be an international. As a result all games in that tournament have been treated as full internationals in this article.

Summary

(Full internationals only)

Rugby: New Zealand internationals 1990-

Opponent	First game	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Percentage
Australia	1994	19	19	0	0	100%
Canada	1991	15	15	0	0	100%
England	1997	27	18	1	8	67%
Spain	1998	1	1	0	0	100%
France	1996	7	5	0	2	71%
Germany	1998	2	2	0	0	100%
Hong Kong	2017	1	1	0	0	100%
Ireland	2014	2	1	0	1	50%
Kazakhstan	2014	1	1	0	0	100%
Netherlands	1990	1	1	0	0	100%
Samoa	2006	2	2	0	0	100%
Scotland	1998	3	3	0	0	100%
South Africa	2010	1	1	0	0	100%
Soviet Union	1990	1	1	0	0	100%
United States	1990	13	12	0	1	92%
Wales	1991	4	4	0	0	100%
World XV	1990	3	3	0	0	100%
Summary	1990	103	90	1	12	87%

1990s

[39]
	1990-08-26(RF)	New Zealand	56–0	Netherlands	Christchurch	[1/17/1]

[40]
	1990-08-28(RF)	New Zealand	8–0	Soviet Union	Christchurch	[2/1/1]

[43]
	1990-08-30(RF)	New Zealand	9–3	United States	Christchurch	[3/5/1]

[45]
	1990-09-01(RF)	New Zealand	12–4	World XV	Christchurch	[4/1/1]

[47]
	1991-04-06 (WC)	New Zealand	24-8	Canada	Glamorgan Wanderers	[5/4/1]

[55]
	1991-04-10 (WC)	Wales	6-24	New Zealand	Llanharan	[8/6/1]

[59]
	1991-04-12 (WC)	New Zealand	0-7	United States	Cardiff Arms Park	[7/9/2]

[110]
	1994-09-02	Australia	0-37	New Zealand	Sydney	[1/8/1]

[123]
	1995-07-22	New Zealand	64-0	Australia	Auckland	[9/2/2]

[140]
	1996-08-31	Australia	5-28	New Zealand	Sydney	[3/10/3]

[141]
	1996-09-08 (CC)	Canada	3-88	New Zealand	Edmonton	[15/11/2]

[143]
	1996-09-11 (CC)	New Zealand	88-8	United States	Edmonton	[12/20/3]

[145]
	1996-09-14 (CC)	France	0-109	New Zealand	Edmonton	[38/13/1]

[171]
	1997-08-13	New Zealand	67-0	England	Burnham	[14/36/1]

[172]
	1997-08-16	New Zealand	44-0	Australia	Dunedin	[15/5/4]

[194]
	1998-05-02 (WC)	Germany	6-134	New Zealand	Amsterdam	[19/16/1]

[202]
	1998-05-05 (WC)	New Zealand	76-0	Scotland	Amsterdam	[17/30/1]

[209]
	1998-05-09 (WC)	New Zealand	46-3	Spain	Amsterdam	[18/17/1]

[214]
	1998-05-12 (WC)	England	11-44	New Zealand	Amsterdam	[46/19/2]

[229]
	1998-05-16 (WC)	New Zealand	44-12	United States	Amsterdam	[20/29/4]

[230]
	1998-08-29	Australia	3-27	New Zealand	Sydney	[11/21/5]

[258]
	1999-10-16 (T99)	New Zealand	73-0	Canada	Palmerston North, New Zealand	[22/26/3]

[259]
	1999-10-19 (T99)	New Zealand	65-5	United States	Palmerston North, New Zealand	[23/32/5]

2000s

[291]
	2000-09-23 (CC)	Canada	0-41	New Zealand	Winnipeg	[28/24/4]

[292]
	2000-09-27 (CC)	New Zealand	45-0	United States	Winnipeg	[25/35/6]

[294]
	2000-09-30 (CC)	England	13-32	New Zealand	Winnipeg	[65/26/3]

[332]
	2001-06-09	New Zealand	15-10	England	Rotorua	[27/76/4]

[333]
	2001-06-16	New Zealand	17-22	England	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	[28/77/5]

[362]
	2002-05-13 (WC)	Germany	0-117	New Zealand	Barcelona	[35/29/2]

[371]
	2002-05-18 (WC)	Australia	3-36	New Zealand	Barcelona	[15/30/6]

[384]
	2002-05-21 (WC)	New Zealand	30-0	France	Barcelona	[31/78/2]

[393]
	2002-05-25 (WC)	England	9-19	New Zealand	Barcelona	[85/32/6]

[424]
	2003-10-04	New Zealand	37-0	World XV	Eden Park, Auckland	[33/2/2]

[425]
	2003-10-11	New Zealand	38-18	World XV	Whangarei	[34/3/3]

[464]
	2004-06-08 (CC)	Canada	5-32	New Zealand	Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver	[43/35/5]

[465]
	2004-06-13 (CC)	New Zealand	35-0	United States	Calgary Rugby Park	[36/48/7]

[468]
	2004-06-19 (CC)	England	0-38	New Zealand	Edmonton	[104/37/7]

[508]
	2005-06-29 (CC)	New Zealand	30-9	Scotland	Ottawa	[39/88/2]

[510]
	2005-07-05 (CC)	Canada	3-43	New Zealand	Ottawa	[49/39/6]

[511]
	2005-07-08 (CC)	Canada	5-32	New Zealand	Ottawa	[50/40/7]

[513]
	2005-10-22	New Zealand	24-15	England	Eden Park, Auckland	[41/114/8]

[515]
	2005-10-26	New Zealand	33-8	England	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	[42/115/9]

[559]
	2006-08-31 (WC)	New Zealand	66-7	Canada	Ellerslie Rugby Park, Edmonton	[56/43/8]

[565]
	2006-09-04 (WC)	New Zealand	50-0	Samoa	St. Albert Rugby Park, St. Albert	[44/10/1]

[571]
	2006-09-08 (WC)	New Zealand	21-0	Scotland	Ellerslie Rugby Park, Edmonton	[45/98/3]

[577]
	2006-09-12 (WC)	New Zealand	40-10	France	Ellerslie Rugby Park, Edmonton	[46/110/3]

[588]
	2006-09-17 (WC)	England	17-25	New Zealand	The Brick Field, Edmonton	[124/47/10]

[645]
	2007-10-16	New Zealand	21-10	Australia	Cooks Gardens, Wanganui	[48/23/7]

[646]
	2007-10-20	New Zealand	29-12	Australia	Wellington	[49/24/8]

[717]
	2008-07-22	Australia	3-37	New Zealand	Canberra	[25/50/9]

[718]
	2008-07-26	Australia	16-22	New Zealand	Sydney	[26/51/10]

[777]
	2009-11-14	England	3-16	New Zealand	Esher	[151/52/11]

[780]
	2009-11-21	England	10-3	New Zealand	Twickenham	[152/53/12]

2010s

[837]
	2010-08-20 (WC)	New Zealand	55-3	South Africa	Surrey Sports Park, Guildford	[54/20/1]

[844]
	2010-08-24 (WC)	Australia	5-32	New Zealand	Surrey Sports Park, Guildford	[29/55/11]

[848]
	2010-08-28 (WC)	New Zealand	41–8	Wales	Surrey Sports Park, Guildford	[56/134/2]

[857]
	2010-09-01 (WC)	New Zealand	45–7	France	Twickenham Stoop	[149/57/4]

[858]
	2010-09-05 (WC)	England	10-13	New Zealand	Twickenham Stoop	[168/58/13]

[917]
	2011-11-26	England	10-0	New Zealand	Twickenham, London	[179/59/14]

[918]
	2011-11-29	England	21-7	New Zealand	Esher	[180/60/15]

[919]
	2011-12-03	England	8-8	New Zealand	Esher	[181/61/16]

[961]
	2012-11-23	England	16-13	New Zealand	Esher	[191/62/17]

[963]
	2012-11-27	England	17-8	New Zealand	Aldershot Military Stadium	[192/63/18]

[964]
	2012-12-01	England	32-23	New Zealand	Twickenham	[193/64/19]

[1000]
	2013-07-13	New Zealand	29-10	England		[65/199/20]

[1001]
	2013-07-16	New Zealand	14-9	England	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	[66/200/21]

[1002]
	2013-07-20	New Zealand	29-8	England	ECOlight Stadium, Pukekohe	[67/201/22]

[1046]
	2014-06-01	New Zealand	38-3	Australia	Rotorua International Stadium	[68/32/12]

[1048]
	2014-06-10	New Zealand	90-12	Samoa	Eden Park, Auckland	[69/18/2]

[1049]
	2014-06-10	New Zealand	16-8	Canada	Tauranga	[70/102/9]

[1050]
	2014-06-14	New Zealand	33-21	Canada	Whakatane	[71/103/10]

[1057]
	2014-08-01 (WC)	New Zealand	79-5	Kazakhstan	CNR, Marcoussis Pitch 2	[72/59/1]

[1067]
	2014-08-05 (WC)	New Zealand	14-17	Ireland	CNR, Marcoussis Pitch 1	[73/128/1]

[1073]
	2014-08-09 (WC)	New Zealand	34–3	United States	CNR, Marcoussis Pitch 1	[74/98/8]

[1076]
	2014-08-13 (WC)	New Zealand	63–7	Wales	CNR, Marcoussis Pitch 1	[75/161/3]

[1083]
	2014-08-17 (WC)	United States	5–55	New Zealand	CNR, Marcoussis Pitch 1	[100/76/9]

[1114]
	2015-06-27 (SS)	Canada	22 – 40	New Zealand	Calgary	[109/77/11]

[1115]
	2015-07-01 (SS)	New Zealand	26 – 7	England	Calgary	[78/224/23]

[1117]
	2015-07-05 (SS)	New Zealand	47–14	United States	Ellerslie Rugby Park, Edmonton	[79/103/10]

[1159]
	2016-10-22	New Zealand	67-3	Australia	Eden Park, Auckland	[80/40/13]

[1160]
	2016-10-26	New Zealand	29-3	Australia	QBE Stadium, North Harbour	[81/41/14]

[1165]
	2016-11-19	England	20–25	New Zealand	Twickenham Stoop, London	[238/82/24]

[1168]
	2016-11-23	Canada	10–20	New Zealand	Donnybrook, Dublin	[116/83/12]

[1172]
	2016-11-27	Ireland	8–38	New Zealand	UCD Bowl, Dublin, Ireland	[145/84/2]

[1194]
	2017-06-09	New Zealand	28–16	Canada	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	[85/120/12]

[1197]
	2017-06-13	New Zealand	44–17	Australia	Rugby Park, Christchurch	[86/43/15]

[1200]
	2017-06-17	New Zealand	21–29	England	Rotorua International Stadium	[87/247/25]

[1206]
	2017-08-09 (WC)	New Zealand	44-12	Wales	Billings Park UCD, Dublin	[88/179/4]

[1211]
	2017-08-13 (WC)	New Zealand	121–0	Hong Kong	Billings Park UCD, Dublin	[89/37/1]

[1217]
	2017-08-17 (WC)	Canada	5-48	New Zealand	Billings Park UCD, Dublin	[125/90/13]

[1226]
	2017-08-22 (WC)	New Zealand	45-12	United States	Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast	[91/114/11]

[1234]
	2017-08-26 (WC)	England	32-41	New Zealand	Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast	[252/92/26]

[1241]
	2018-08-18	Australia	11-31	New Zealand	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	[50/93/16]

[1242]
	2018-08-25	New Zealand	45-17	Australia	Eden Park, Auckland	[94/51/17]

[1270]
	2018-11-03	United States	6–67	New Zealand	Chicago	[116/95/12]

[1273]
	2018-11-09	France	0–14	New Zealand	Toulon	[224/96/5]

[1280]
	2018-11-17	France	30–27	New Zealand	Grenoble	[225/97/6]

[1322]
	2019-06-29 (SS)	Canada	20–35	New Zealand	Chula Vista, San Diego	[113/98/14]

[1324]
	2019-07-03 (SS)	United States	0-33	New Zealand	Chula Vista, San Diego	[99/120/13]

[1325]
	2019-07-06 (SS)	France	25-16	New Zealand	Chula Vista, San Diego	[232/100/7]

[1332]
	2019-07-14 (SS)	New Zealand	28-13	England	Chula Vista, San Diego	[101/271/27]

[1339]
	2019-08-10	Australia	10–47	New Zealand	Optus Stadium, Perth	[54/102/18]

[1342]
	2019-08-17	New Zealand	37–8	Australia	Eden Park, Auckland	[103/55/19]

Other internationals

[-]
	2009-11-17	England A	3-48	New Zealand	Esher	[-/-/-]

List of women's international rugby union test matches – the most complete listing of all women's international results since 1982.

• Curtin, Jennifer (2016). "Before the 'Black Ferns': Tracing the Beginnings of Women's Rugby in New Zealand". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 33 (17). doi:10.1080/09523367.2017.1329201.

• Black Ferns team page at AllBlacks.com