The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns (), represents New Zealand in women's international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, which is regarded as the country's

national sport A national sport is a physical activity or sport that is culturally significant or deeply embedded in a nation, serving as a national symbol and an intrinsic element to a nation's identity and culture. Several sovereign states and constituent ...

. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournaments. They have an 81 percent winning record in Test Match rugby, (updated 24 May 2025). Since their official international debut in 1990, the Black Ferns have lost to only five of the sixteen nations they have played against —

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

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Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The team performs a

haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

before every match; this is a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

challenge or posture dance. Traditionally the Black Ferns use the haka ''Ko Uhia Mai.''

History

Women's rugby in New Zealand was rising in the late eighties, but recognition and assistance from New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) was not available. It was not until 1989 that women's rugby started to get official recognition with the organisation of matches by provinces and clubs. On 22 July that year, New Zealand fielded their first women's rugby union team against a touring United States side, the California Grizzlies.

Team's name

The team's name refers to the mamaku, the black

tree fern Tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk (botany), trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae ( ...

, which is a ''taonga'' (treasure) of New Zealand. It also aligns with the colour black and the

silver fern ''Alsophila tricolor'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Cyathea dealbata'', commonly known as the silver fern or silver tree-fern, or as ponga or punga (from Māori language, Māori or ),The Māori word , pronounced , has been borrowed into Ne ...

, which are iconic New Zealand sporting symbols. For example, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

is New Zealand's men's rugby team, the Black Caps is the men's cricket team, the White Ferns is the women's cricket team, while the Silver Ferns is the women's

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

team.

World Cup wins

The Black Ferns have participated in every Rugby World Cup except for one since its inauguration in 1991, only missing the 1994 World Cup in Scotland. Starting with the inaugural

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

(IRB)-sponsored tournament in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, which was won by New Zealand, the Black Ferns have gone on to win five more titles — including the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, and the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

tournament which was hosted in New Zealand.

Funding

While rugby is the most popular spectator game in New Zealand, the Black Ferns have suffered in the past from similar problems to any women's sport: under-funding, lack of support and lack of publicity. While the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it b ...

(NZRU) and World Rugby have been criticised to an extent for not doing more to promote women's rugby, support is beginning to improve in those organisations, in large part due to the Ferns' successes. The NZRU started funding the Black Ferns in 1995, therefore giving a great boost to their game, while the Black Ferns have benefitted from being included in NZRU High Performance initiatives. Along with professional coaches, the team has had access to professional development resources such as analysis. In more recent times, the team's profile has risen greatly at a grassroots level, due in great part to their string of successes, and it is increasingly seen to be a national team on the same basis as any other.

Provincial championship

In January 2010, the Women's Provincial Championship (WPC) came under severe threat after the NZRU announced that it would be shut down due to budget cuts. As the championship was a prime builder of training, skill and competition for New Zealand women's rugby, the decision was a shock for players and supporters, including former captain Farah Palmer – especially since it was a World Cup year. While NZRU said women's domestic rugby was one of many victims of the tight financial times, they faced widespread criticism for their decision. After the Black Ferns' 2010 World Cup victory, the NZRU immediately apologised and reinstated the WPC, which was renamed the Farah Palmer Cup in 2016 in honour of the Black Ferns' influential former captain.

International competitions

The Black Ferns have won the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

in 1996, 2000, and 2005, and the

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada national rugby union team, Canada, England Saxons, England, the United States national rugby union te ...

in 2004. From 2002 until their last game of 2009, the Black Ferns enjoyed a streak of 24 consecutive test match wins. In 2018, after the success of the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team, all Sevens and Black Ferns players have been offered semi-professional contracts. They also played the first Test series against the Australian Wallaroos, which was played on the same night as the Men's Bledisloe Cup Tests. The 2018 season finished with a 1–1 drawn series against France, with France becoming only the fourth team in the world to beat the Black Ferns. The Black Ferns loss in the final game of the year ended a 17-month long winning streak and was also the final game for captain Fa’amausili, who retired from international rugby. In 2019, the Black Ferns won the annual Women's Rugby Super Series for the second time. On 31 October 2021, the Black Ferns played their 100th test match against

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. They hosted the 2022 Pacific Four Series and won their first title after going undefeated in the series. In 2022, New Zealand hosted the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

after beating out neighbour

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for the rights. New Zealand automatically qualified for the 2021 event as host. The Black Ferns successfully defended their title and claimed their sixth World Championship after beating

(34–31) in the final.

2023

The Black Ferns began 2023 with a new coach and a (50–0) thrashing of the Wallaroos in their first test of the year. The win saw them retain the O'Reilly Cup for another year and top the Pacific Four Series on points difference. Convincing wins against

(52–21) and the

(39–17) in the rest of the series also added a second title to their acclaim. New Zealand hosted the inaugural WXV 1 competition on 20 October, 2023. They hosted

, and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the top tier.

ended their 16-game winning streak in their opening match with a (17–18) score. A (70–7) drubbing of

saw them bounce back from their early defeat in their first test in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

since 1997. A title-decider with

saw a rematch of the 2021 World Cup final. The Red Roses overpowered the Black Ferns (12–33) and went on to claim the inaugural WXV 1 title.

2024

In 2024, the Black Ferns started off their season by competing in the annual Pacific Four Series. They defeated the

(57–0) and

(67–19) but lost to the eventual winners

(19–22) to finish the competition in second place. They also retained the O'Reilly Cup after demolishing the Wallaroos (62–0) in their second match.

beat the Black Ferns (12–24) before the start of the WXV 1. The Black ferns finished the WXV 1 competition in 4th place after defeats to

(27–29) and

(31–49). They defeated

in their final match (39–14).

2025

The Black Ferns 2025 season commenced with participation in the 2025 Pacific Four Series. After defeating

(38–12) at McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, on 10 May 2025 in their first match of the series, they drew with

(27–27) at Apollo Projects Stadium, Christchurch, on 17 May 2025. The Black Ferns last draw was against

(8–8) in London in 2011. After Canada defeated both the

and Australia, the Black Ferns needed to defeat the United States by a 25 point margin to win the Pacific Four Series. They accomplished this in a clinical performance at North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, on 24 May 2025, winning (79–14). Seven of the 14 tries were scored by Portia Woodman. In doing so, Woodman became New Zealand's leading women’s fifteen-a-side try scorer of all time with 45 tries from 26 tests, passing Vanessa Cootes record of 43 tries in 16 tests, which had stood since 2002.

Haka

The Black Ferns perform a

challenge) before every international match. The Black Ferns traditionally perform the haka ''Ko Uhia Mai'', specially composed by the Māori rugby leader Te Whetū Tipiwai.

Record

''The first four games listed below – played at RugbyFest 1990 – are not generally accepted as being internationals by the New Zealand Rugby Union.''

Overall

''(Full internationals only, updated to 24 May 2025)''

Rugby World Cup

New Zealand have won the World Cup six times. They lost to eventual winners the

in the semi-final of the inaugural competition held in

in 1991, but were absent from the following tournament in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, due to the late cancellation of the event. They defeated the

in the final of the

World Cup held in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to claim their maiden title. They followed this up with three more consecutive titles, overcoming

in the final of the next three editions;

and

, as well as in their fifth world title in

. They won their sixth World Title after defeating

(34–31) in the

Rugby World Cup Grand Final. In the 2014 Rugby World Cup, they lost a pool game to

, while the top two teams in another pool drew their match. This saw them miss out on the semi-finals by a single table point, before going on to heavily defeat

and the

to finish the tournament in fifth.

Players

Current squad

On May 1, 2025, head coach Allan Bunting named a 33-player squad for the 2025 Pacific Four Series. Kelly Brazier was named as a travelling reserve to Newcastle. On May 18, 2025, Dhys Faleafaga was ruled out for the rest of the 2025 season after suffering an injury at training. Chelsea Bremner was called into the squad as injury replacement. Updated to: 24 May 2025

Notable players

Four former Black Ferns have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame: Farah Palmer, Anna Richards, Huriana Manuel-Carpenter and Fiao'o Fa'amausili. * Farah Palmer won three Women's Rugby World Cups, in

and

. During her captaincy from 1997 to 2006, the Black Ferns lost only once. Palmer made her international debut against

in August 1996. She earned 35 caps, making her the fifth-most capped Black Ferns player. Palmer was awarded the IRB International Women's Personality of the Year in 2005. For the 5th Women's Rugby World Cup in Canada, Palmer fought her way back into the team and again led them to World Cup victory. After the win, she announced her retirement from the Black Ferns in September 2006. The national provincial women's competition in New Zealand is named in her honour in recognition of her contribution to the game. She was inducted into World Rugby's Hall of Fame in October 2014. * Anna Richards was inducted into World Rugby's Hall of Fame in October 2014 along with Palmer. She won 49 caps for the Black Ferns in a career that spanned two decades, from 1990 to 2010. She played in the inaugural 1991 World Cup when New Zealand lost in the semi-finals. Richards is also a four-time Women's Rugby World Cup winner – 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010; she played in every final. * Huriana Manuel-Carpenter represented New Zealand in both sevens and 15s. In 2013, she captained the Black Ferns sevens side when they won the inaugural Women's Sevens Series title and the Sevens World Cup. She was also captain when the side successfully defended the series title in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. She won a silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games. Manuel-Carpenter is also a two-time Rugby World Cup winner –

and

. Between 2005 and 2014 she scored 15 tries from 25 test appearances. She is part of the first mother-and-daughter duo to have played for the Black Ferns. She was inducted into World Rugby's Hall of Fame in October 2021. * Fiao'o Fa'amausili was the most capped Black Fern at the time of her retirement in 2018. She recorded 50 wins from 58 games with 35 tests as captain. She scored 17 tries, the most by a forward, and won four World Cups out of the five that she has attended.

Award winners

The following New Zealand players have been recognised at the

World Rugby Awards The World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby (until November 2014, known as the International Rugby Board), the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in ru ...

since 2001:

Coaches

The following table lists every head coach of the Black Ferns, from 1991 to the present day. Every Black Ferns head coach has been a New Zealander. Allan Bunting is the current head coach, as of 2023. Wayne Smith is the first and, to date, the only Black Ferns head coach to be named World Rugby Coach of the Year at the

. Updated to: 24 May 2025

Notes

References

External links

* {{New Zealand national teams national

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...