New Zealand rugby great Farah Palmer says it is not time to panic — yet.
The rumblings about the state of the national women’s team have escalated as the Black Ferns have been soundly thrashed on their northern tour.
If the opening 43-12 loss to England was disappointing, the 56-15 thumping in the rematch and the 38-13 loss to France were seemingly stark indicators the Black Ferns are lagging off the pace.
But Palmer, the former Otago captain who played 35 tests and is now New Zealand Rugby deputy chairwoman, is not ready to sound the alarm.
‘‘I don’t think ‘panic’ is the word. But we’re a team that can play better than this, and can be fitter than this.
‘‘I think the Black Ferns were up against it.
‘‘I was hopeful, going into this tour, that they would at least be able to put up a good fight against England and France.
‘‘I think it’s been a bit of a shock to everybody. But that’s understandable considering they’ve had two years of no test matches.
‘‘It’s been a challenge, but I’m hoping they’ve learnt a lot out of it and they’ll come back ready to go for the World Cup.’’
Palmer said the results of the games clearly showed there was a gap between the Black Ferns and, especially, England.
But that was perhaps not a surprise given the disparity in preparation between the teams.
‘‘You look at England. I think they’ve had 14 tests in the last two years, and the Ferns have had none.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of young and new players that have had a chance to see what it is like at test match rugby level, and I think they’ve learned a lot.
‘‘Can we improve? I would hope so.
‘‘They’ll be doing a review of the tour when they get back and seeing what they can do between now and the World Cup to get better.
The temptation in the wake of three one-sided tests, and discussion over how other countries are resourcing women’s rugby, has been to point the finger at New Zealand Rugby and demand more money be set aside for the Black Ferns.
Palmer is not convinced it solely comes down to cash.
‘‘I don’t think it’s that simple. Even if we’d made the Black Ferns fully professional last year or the year before, we’ve had two years of no-one being able to come into New Zealand to pay against us.
‘‘What they need is more test matches, and more time playing as a team.’’
Nevertheless, the former long-serving hooker does see a future when the Black Ferns are resourced as well as their leading opponents.
‘‘It’s great they went semi-professional back in 2018. It’s inevitable they will go fully professional some time. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, and how to best do that.’’
Next year is an extremely important one for women’s rugby in New Zealand.
The Rugby World Cup is being held in Auckland and Whangarei in October-November, and Super Rugby Aupiki has its inaugural season in March-April.
A Super Rugby competition for women was a welcome introduction, Palmer said, and would help bridge the gap between the provincial competition that bears her name, the Farah Palmer Cup, and international rugby.
‘‘The FPC is great. It gives provincial players an opportunity to take it to the next level, and if you look at some of the players that are new in the Black Ferns, they’ve come through the FPC.
‘‘But I think we need something between the FPC and the Black Ferns, and Super Rugby Aupiki will do that.
‘‘In the future, maybe we can see if that competition can be expanded, and include some Australian teams. The likes of Moana Pasifika might want to enter a team.
‘‘At the moment, it’s having four teams and really giving those players that are at the top of the game an opportunity to take it to the next level.’’
