Rugby News editor Campbell Burnes believes the All Blacks and New Zealand Rugby have plenty to learn from the World Cup-winning Black Ferns.
While their on-field achievements were far superior to their male counterparts, having won 12 matches back-to-back and the home RWC title, it is also their off-field personas that have won over the New Zealand public.
The Ferns’ open, vulnerable and welcoming attitude towards fans and media alike was something rarely seen with the men’s side, or to a far lesser extent, Burnes saying the All Blacks have plenty of room to grow in terms of their approachability.
“The All Blacks to a certain extent try and relate to their fans, they often do that through social media as much as anything,” Burnes told SENZ Afternoons.
“But I think they’ve got to have a look at themselves, the All Blacks, and say that not all media are the actual enemy.
“I think there is some good and bad media but they’ve got to approach it with sort of a fresh look I think.
“It helps if you’re winning for sure, but they do have to be more themselves - like the Black Ferns have been - than we have seen in recent years.
“Whether that’s just been coached out of them or coaxed out of them, I’m not too sure. There’s some genuinely good guys amongst the All Blacks but we don’t always see that when they talk because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing.”
In comparison, the Black Ferns never shied away from being honest with the media, something Burnes holds the uttermost respect for.
“I just got the impression that the Black Ferns were just thriving on this extra media and this extra attention, but they weren’t trying to be anything other than themselves,” he added.
“Anything they changed was the way they played the game and that was without having that bedrock of structure, which they’ve been successful with for so long, they were able to really tweak things there.
“So that was a tribute to what they’d done under Wayne Smith.”
Despite a rocky start, the All Blacks also completed their 2022 season with many positives, having turned their year around to win 8 of 13 matches.
However, they now have a huge task ahead as they prepare for their own Rugby World Cup in France in September.