The Black Ferns have named an experienced starting XV for the match, with only tighthead prop Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu and lock Laura Bayfield having fewer than ten Test appearances.
Still, co-captain Ruahei Demant is energised after a Rugby World Cup campaign that ended with a 42-26 victory over France in a playoff for third.
"We have a new head coach, which has brought in a new level of excitement, refreshing ideas while staying true to a lot of the values that this team has held dearly since its inception,” she said.
Attacking rugby is part of the Black Ferns' fabric and a new feature could be the use of Liana Mikaele-Tu’u in the lineout. She is among the top ten winners of lineout possession in PWR in England, something not previously part of her repertoire. No.8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker was rampant at the Rugby World Cup and halfback Mia Joseph has featured in 16 of the 18 Tests.
Winger Mererangi Paul has scored 14 tries in 14 Tests, including three in her last international against the USA in Hamilton in 2024.
Fellow winger Ayesha Leti-l'iga has scored 15 tries across her last 12 starts for the Black Ferns, including two tries in each of her last three starts. In 2022, she scored a hat-trick in her only previous start against the USA.
Loose forward Mia Anderson (Chiefs/ Waikato), halfback Tara Turner (Blues/Northland) and winger Justine McGregor (Black Ferns Sevens/Wellington) have all been named in the reserves for the first time.
Can the Eagles Soar?
The USA have managed just one win in their last 20 Tests against the world’s top 10 teams, beating Australia 32-25 at the 2024 PAC4. Their recent 60-0 victory over Samoa was their biggest since an 87-0 win over the Netherlands in 2002. The USA have not won consecutive Tests since they beat Italy and Spain at the start of the 2017 Rugby World Cup. Even so, the Black Ferns are not underestimating the Eagles.
“You have to be careful when you use outcome as a measure of performance. The women’s space is growing exponentially, everyone is improving rapidly,” coach Whitney Hansen said.
“They play a power game. They’ll try to go through us, so we have to be relentless on defence. They have different players and coaches now, so we can’t expect things to be the same as before.”
Of the 32 players selected for the US PAC4 squad, 17 are based in England and play in the PWR. Hallie Taufoou plays in Bordeaux, while the rest come from Women’s Elite Rugby, universities, or the US sevens program.
Prop Hope Rogers holds the Eagles’ record for most Tests with 59 and has scored 25 tries. She is known as a world-class scrummager and powerful ball carrier. Lock Erica Jarrell-Searcy is the newly appointed captain. She plays for Sale Sharks and has appeared in two Rugby World Cups, scoring a memorable try in the opening game of the 2025 tournament against eventual champions England.
No.8 Freda Tafuna is the only American to score tries in consecutive Tests against the Black Ferns. Fullback Alev Kelter has played in two Rugby World Cups and three Olympic Games in Sevens, winning a bronze medal in Paris in 2024.
The USA are fielding six debutants: two in the starting XV, first five-eighth Bella Vogel and blindside flanker Hann Humphrey, and four on the bench, including former Otago halfback Abigail Paton.
Leader Lu
Ruahei Demant will lead the Black Ferns for the 36th time in a Test match, passing the record of Fiao’o Faamausili, who skippered the Black Ferns 35 times between 2012 and 2018.
Faamausili and Demant have had similar captaincy journeys. Faamausili was selected to lead the Black Ferns from the Auckland Storm for a 2012 tour of England, which ended in a 3-0 series defeat. The hooker rallied in 2013 to whitewash the Red Roses 3-0 in New Zealand. Faamausili went on to win 29 Test matches, leading the Black Ferns to Rugby World Cup glory in 2017.
Demant took the reins of the Black Ferns after the dire 2021 Northern Tour. In 2022, she won the World Rugby Player of the Year award as she transformed the Black Ferns into World Champions again. Between 2023 and 2025, Demant was co-captain 22 times with Alana Bremner (3) and Kennedy Tukuafu (19). She has led the Black Ferns to 28 victories, including the 2023 and 2025 Pacific Four titles.
Dame Farah Palmer, alongside Anna Richards, was the first New Zealand woman to be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014. Palmer won 29 of her 30 Tests as captain, inculding the Rugby World Cup finals of 1998, 2002 and 2006.
Coach Hansen paid tribute to the milestone of “Lu.”
“There’s a real humility to who Lu is. The hardest worker in the gym is not the person saying, "Hi, I’m the hardest worker." She’s always willing to give time to grow the space and make it better. She doesn’t always use words but is very articulate and has a special mana about her. Everything stops when she speaks; there’s confidence about that. Everyone is willing to go to war with her. There’s a clear direction of where you’re going and what you’re doing, and you hang on every word. It takes time to grow that kind of leadership in a team. Lu is incredibly special.
Pioneering History
New Zealand and the USA have played a groundbreaking and important role in the history of women’s rugby.
The first women’s team to tour New Zealand may have been the Rio Grande Surfers from San Diego in June 1980. They paid their own way, won all four matches, and stayed with their opponents during the tour.
Next came the San Diego State University ‘Aztecs’ in 1982 and the San Diego Surfers in 1986, who won all eight of their matches. The Surfers also played against a Canterbury XV before the All Blacks faced France in the “Baby Blacks” Test at Lancaster Park in Christchurch in 1986.
In 1989, New Zealand beat the California Grizzlies 13-7 in the Black Ferns’ first official match at Lancaster Park, Christchurch. Canterbury No.8 Maree Fitzgibbon from Christchurch scored the winning try.
The first official international match between New Zealand and the USA took place at the 1991 Rugby World Cup. The Americans won 7-0 in the semifinals on their way to the first-ever title.
Since then, New Zealand has won 15 straight Test matches against the USA, outscoring the Eagles 783 to 107.
The most famous match between the two teams was the 1998 Rugby World Cup final in Amsterdam, where New Zealand won 44-12. Winger Vanessa Coutts scored five tries, and soon after, the team officially adopted the Black Ferns nickname.
In 1999, Tammi Wilson scored six tries against the USA in a 65-5 win in Palmerston North. In 2025, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe topped that with seven tries in a 79-14 rout over the USA in North Harbour. Woodman-Wickliffe also scored four tries in the 2017 Rugby World Cup semi-final.
Remarkably, the Black Ferns' biggest win against the USA was 86-8 in Edmonton in 1996. Cootes scored five tries in that win, too.
The Black Ferns have won 115 of their 140 Test matches. In 164 internationals, the USA have had 69 wins, three draws, and 92 defeats.
