Black Ferns maestro Wayne Smith concedes his desire to play expansively almost cost his new team their unbeaten record against Australia in their Pacific Four series opener.
Confronted by rainy, muddy conditions at Tauranga Domain, the NZ women - including seven debutants - struggled to execute their gameplan over the opening 40 minutes, falling 10 points behind their trans-Tasman rivals, before rallying to a hard-earned 23-10 victory.
With 20 victories from 20 encounters, the reigning world champions were in danger of losing their dominance over the Wallaroos, before the halftime break enabled Smith and his coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments, and turn the tide.
"We've got a long way to go," he admitted. "We tried to play a really expansive game in torrential rain and that's the coach's fault, but that was the challenge - to show the courage to have a crack at it.
"There were enough good players there to get us by - huge courage, huge 'want' and huge pride in the jersey. I knew they were going to have a really good second half, because you can sense it in the team... that there's something building."
After a torrid few months, when the Ferns' off-field culture was put to the torch and a new management team assembled under 'director of rugby' Smith, the World Cup holders desperately needed a positive performance on the field to set the programme back on track.
Their most recent outings were record losses to England and France on last year's northern tour, so defeat to the Aussies would have continued a disturbing trend.
Smith credits Australia for playing a style that suited the conditions - "they probably showed us what we should be doing" - but with his team down 10-5 at thebreak, he praised his staff - defensive coach Wes Clarke, and forwards gurus Mike Cron and Whitney Hansen - for tweaking the second-half approach.
"We had a good halftime tactically, about what we needed to do to reshape their defence, so we could get through the middle a bit more, but the girls were awesome" said Smith.
"We continued to try and play. Everyone knows we've been practicing a fast game and we made some inroads, some really good attacks, even in the downpour.
"It probably gives you a bit of credibility with the players, when you're trying to play a game like that and some of the stuff comes off.
"The team that came out after halftime was the same team that started and they created the momentum for the reserves coming on. We turned the scrum from being dominated to being dominant - the same players - which was pretty impressive."
Ranked second in the world, behind England, New Zealand now face third-ranked Canada, who overran United States 36-5 in the early fixture. Smith has promised changes to his line-up, as he gives his squad a chance to impress, with World Cup selection on the line.
Join us at 2:45pm Sunday for live updates of the Black Ferns v Canada Pacific Four series clash
