New beginnings and a new found confidence have the Black Ferns bullish about their chances of defending their World Cup title in October and November.
Their quest begins in earnest tomorrow when the Pacific Series kicks off in Tauranga, with New Zealand taking on Australia, and Canada playing the United States.
The Black Ferns are in a race against time to catch up to the likes of England and France ahead of their World Cup title defence in Aotearoa later this year.
The New Zealanders suffered four heavy defeats to those two teams at the end of 2021, with the tour resulting in an independent review of the team's environment and culture.
The review was damning and led to the resignation of head coach Glenn Moore, with former All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith taking over and former Black Ferns Sevens Olympic gold medal winning coach Allan Bunting brought in as a consultant.
Photo: Photosport
Veteran Black Ferns midfielder Chelsea Semple says with the slate wiped clean, they must focus on what's ahead of them.
"We needed a lot of things to change after what happened on the end of year tour last year and...so there has been a lot of changes and I think even the way we play you will see that change come Monday."
While Monday's test will be the Black Ferns first of the year, Semple says their preparation for the World Cup began six months ago.
"Our quest for the World Cup began when we landed back home from last year's end of year tour and realised that we were not up to where we needed to be to compete and to retain the World Cup, so the girls went away and have done a lot of work over the break and we have come back much stronger as both individuals and as a team," said Semple.
The Black Ferns know they need to raise their game to new levels to beat the best of the Northern Hemisphere and fullback Renee Holmes says there's only one way to do that.
The Black Ferns only have four tests before the World Cup in which to dial themselves in, but Holmes is confident they now have the right culture under consultant Allan Bunting, and the right management under new coach, Wayne "the professor" Smith.
Ruby Tui will debut for the Black Ferns. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2022 / www.photosport.nz
"He's definitely the professor. He's putting us under constant pressure. He's forever changing training and trainings are always like a game scenario...and the team is definitely looking very very sharp," said Holmes.
Ruahei Demant will captain New Zealand while Kendra Cocksedge becomes the most capped Black Fern of all time in her 58th test.
The game kicks off at the Tauranga Domain at 2:45 tomorrow afternoon, preceded by No 3-ranked Canada versus No 7-ranked USA Eagles.
-RNZ
