Three weeks ago Anna Richards was expecting to watch the latest
generation of Black Ferns attempting to win a fourth successive
Women's Rugby World Cup title on television from back home in
New Zealand.
However, the veteran fly half will instead be wearing the
famous jersey and lining up in the starting line up to face South
Africa in New Zealand's Pool A match at Surrey Sports Park in
Guildford, England, on Friday.
Richards initially missed out on selection for the New
Zealand squad, but when Amiria Rule was forced out after running
out of time to recover from a knee reconstruction, the call went
out for the most capped player in Black Ferns' history.
"I didn't expect to be playing, not after I was
dropped from the team, but it's a great surprise and I'm
very happy to be here," explained Richards, who will be
playing her 45th international since her debut against Australia in
1990.
"I was really lucky to be able to go to those 6am
trainings, twice a week, and nasty sessions on a Monday night! I
never retired, I was just skulking away in the background and lucky
enough to get a chance."
This will be the fifth Women's Rugby World Cup for
Richards and New Zealand, the fly half being one of only two
players in action over the next two weeks in Guildford who played
in the inaugural tournament back in 1991 in Cardiff.
Missing a medal
The other is Sweden's Jennie Öhman and for Richards, the
fact that the 12 teams involved in Women's Rugby World Cup 2010
are housed in a 'village' within the Surrey Sports Park
brings back fond memories of that inaugural tournament.
"It reminds me of 1991 because we were in a university
campus in Cardiff, and it was really cool. You'd get to see a
few of the other teams and catch up a lot of the players,"
recalled Richards.
"Spain [in 2002] was hard, we were all spread out all
over the place and we didn't see anybody and we actually saw
very few of the games, so it'll be quite nice to actually see
some teams play, catch up with other people and soak up the
atmosphere."
Richards has played a prominent role in New Zealand's
dominance of Women's Rugby over the last 12 years and already
has three WRWC winners' medals to her name, but that
doesn't mean she isn't hungry for more success come 5
September.
"My Mum stole one of my medals so maybe I need to
replace that!" joked Richards.
"All squads are different and they're kind of the
same. We've got some great talents, some good old heads, hard
trainers and I do think we have the potential to win. I don't
think it's going to be easy, but we have the potential.
Sympathy vote?
"We can't say we've had a smooth road in our
build up with the loss of the NPC and funding. We've only had
seven games since the last World Cup so you can't say we've
really played a lot together, which is one of our big hindrances.
"So I think people aren't thinking we should win,
they look at our build up and I think some people feel a bit sorry
for us!"
New Zealand have only ever lost three of their 49
international matches, the most recent a 10-3 loss to England at
Twickenham last November, and Richards admits defeats can be a
positive.
"Given that we don't have a lot of Test matches and
we haven't lost that many it's always a good wake-up call
[to lose], and it does make you refocus and work a lot harder - and
it makes you not expect to always win, which I think is very
good."
"Before 1998 we were in the wilderness back then as
well, we hadn't seen very many Test matches and you just have
to remain intense with what you do back home and you've got to
work with what you've got. It's not the situation it's
how you react to it."
The selection of Richards, a few months shy of her 46th
birthday, as the replacement for key player Rule may have surprised
a few, but her value to the team is not lost on captain Melissa
Ruscoe.
Age no barrier
"Anna's great, she's got that leadership ability
and skill so for some of our younger ones it's great because
they can feed off her and use it as confidence as well,"
explained Ruscoe.
"She would probably admit that she's a little but
off the pace, but you can't take away the skill and make a pass
and put a player in the hole. No matter how fast you are or how old
you are, if you've still got that skilled ability it's
going to make a difference and we will definitely be using that.
"The backlines are going to be firing, it's really
exciting just at training to see the backs run. From a forwards
perspective I like standing up and seeing them crossing the line
for sure!"
First up for the defending champions is South Africa, a side
that are unrecognisable from that which made their Women's
Rugby World Cup debut four years ago in Canada and suffered five
heavy defeats.
"I think they'll be really good," admitted
Richards, who played for the Black Ferns with the mother of one of
her teammates Huriana Manuel. "I played them a couple of years
ago with the Nomads and they were very physical, had good speed and
some really good skills.
"I think they just needed to learn the game a little bit
more and I think that's what they've done the last couple
of years. They came away with a great series win against Scotland
[in June], so I'm expecting a really good game."
Watch Anna Richards and New Zealand take on South Africa LIVE
on RWCWOMENS.COM on Friday from 16:15 local time (03:15 Saturday
NZL; 17:15 Friday RSA).
For those in the UK and Ireland, the match will be streamed
live on host broadcaster
Sky Sports
website and available on demand on the official WRWC 2010 website
24 hours later.
