Courage brings its reward for Black Ferns

Successful rugby coach Wayne Smith struck the right note when utilising New Zealand's DNA to develop a Rugby World Cup-winning formula for the previously beleaguered Black Ferns.

In doing so, he unleashed the creative quality that marks all the great teams and utilised the almost inherent skills developed as every young player in New Zealand, boy or girl, moves through the grades.

It wasn’t only New Zealanders who got excited, try the French commentary for something different.

It allows an almost three-dimensional game, and while it is not always the case, it is the route to success more often than not.

In Saturday's final at Eden Park, England was one-dimensional by comparison, overly reliant on their highly-effective lineout drive, but equally vulnerable when teams attacked it, twice as New Zealand did at crucial stages of the game.

The courage to base their tournament strategy on an expansive game spoke volumes for New Zealand. By comparison, England lacked that quality despite their ability to produce a length-of-the-field try like that scored by Abby Dow against Canada in their semi-final.

Yet, while attempting to counteract the speed at which New Zealand was playing, England reverted to the now common but frustrating tactic of having midfield huddles before lineouts to gasp an extra lungful or two of air before returning to the fray.

Delaying tactics have been front and centre this year, as witnessed in the All Blacks' escape to win at Melbourne in their Bledisloe Cup contest with Australia.

But when England reviews their game, they might look at the 70th-minute lineout, where they took their time in assembling, an injured player notwithstanding, as possibly the moment the game slipped from their grasp.

That allowed captain Ruahei Demant to complain to the referee that she hadn't touched a kick from England in flight. The TMO picked up on that, checked it, and after consultation with the referee, the lineout throw was overturned in New Zealand's favour.

From the lineout, there was time for Stacey Fluhler to do her thing by running her magic lines to flick a ball to Ayesha Leti'liga to score a crucial try.

As an aside, what a memorable moment when the Eden Park crowd stood to the injured Fluhler as she limped her way from the dead ball line to the Black Ferns bench. The only similar occasion was the standing ovation accorded Richie McCaw when substituted near the end of his last appearance at Eden Park in 2015.

But had England played the lineout in a reasonable time, the issue would now be secure in the refereeing mistakes' closet.

The over-reliance on the lineout maul also left them without a surprise factor at the last lineout. They stuck to their knitting rather than unleashing the 'teabag' effect.

Teabag was the name of the move by which the All Blacks scored their only try of the 2011 Rugby World Cup final.

Instead, the Black Ferns played the surprise hand by competing on the final throw to secure the ball and the World Cup.

As Greek and Roman writers of antiquity claimed, fortune favours the brave, and the Black Ferns were the favoured ones on Saturday.