AS THE conversation draws to a close, we discover that Wayne Smith was helping out Black Ferns coach Darryl Suasua in the late Nineties when Giselle Mather was still playing for England. Let’s just say Smith has better memories of a particular tour to New Zealand in 1996 than Mather, who was part of an England side that lost 67-0.
Over the previous hour and a half, the two coaches – both World Cup winners, Smith as a coach and Mather as a player – have discussed the upcoming tournament, the differences between coaching men and women, and the laws they would change. It’s a fascinating conversation, as you’ll read…
Giselle Mather: I’m really interested to know why you took on such an awesome six-month challenge to lead the Black Ferns in a home World Cup.
Wayne Smith: I was having a cup of coffee with Mark Robinson, the CEO of NZ Rugby. He’s a mate of mine and he played for me when I was coaching the All Blacks. I happened to say if the Black Ferns coaches would like a bit of a hand I’m happy to do it. I’m not quite sure how that turned into being director of rugby!
This was 14 January, then in mid-March NZ Rugby said the coaches were keen. I was quite excited and went to a camp in Christchurch… John Haggart resigned the day before I arrived and Glenn Moore wasn’t in any space to coach given the accusations in the high-performance review that had just been released.
