New Zealand is one of the world’s most iconic rugby nations and the women’s team – known as the ‘Kiwi Ferns’ were the first-ever World Cup winners back in 2000.
The team went on to win the next two World Cups, before Australia claimed the more recent editions in 2013 and 2017, by defeating the former champions.
The Kiwi Ferns will look to maintain their 100% record of reaching the final when they take on hosts England in the semi-finals in York on Monday 14 November.
They will be led by head coach Ricky Henry, who gave a rare interview to Women’s Sports Alliance (WSA) Founder Jordan Guard ahead of their bid for a fourth World Cup title.
Q – How would you describe yourself as a coach?
“I’m a pretty collaborative (coach),” he tells the WSA.
“I like to try and get the best out of players. I really have a passion for the game having grown up playing it and now I’m in a coaching space and a women’s space as well so, for me, it’s about time to grow the game and evolve it.”
Q – What are the values that you that are most important to you to instil into your players and why?
“I guess respect is a big one, making sure that you treat people as you’d want to be treated yourself. Trust obviously goes a long way to football in general. Trust your team-mates, trust coaches, trust the players, so those are big values in themselves for me.
“I think the last one is really just having fun. Enjoying ourselves, expressing ourselves as players, but also as coaches – that gets the best out of everybody.”