Cindy Nelles: Former Canada lock unpacks their victory over the Black Ferns

While the Black Ferns may be heartbroken, Canada is over the moon. 

The New Zealand side was defeated in the semifinal, the World No 2 claiming victory 34-19. 

Lesley Murdoch caught up with former Canadian lock Cindy Nelles to unpack the Canadian side’s performance and their advance to the Women’s Rugby World Cup finals. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, let's go and get some immediate reaction. Of course,
someone who was probably a little divided will find out
how divided she was. Cindy Nellis silver medallist for Canada
back in twenty fourteen, and of course she went to
the twenty seventeen Women's Rugby World Cup as well, but
has played for Canterbury and being magnificent in the locking position.
Cindy Nellis joins us good morning, Congratulations Canada through to

(00:21):
the final.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, good morning. A very exciting way to start my Saturday.
Much earlier than I typically would like to be waking up,
but it was worth getting up early for.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
What did you make of the way that Canada came
out of the blocks that opening whistle?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
It was electric. They were so fast, they were getting
quick rocks, quick ball off loads, really putting the pressure
on the black ferns and really testing their defense.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
And they've caused the eras well, a lot of eras
from the blackfunds in the opening ten minutes.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, definitely, it was I think a little bit more
than New Zealand might have been preparing for, or they
might not have got quite the right jump out of
their sheds when they were coming onto that game. But yeah,
Canada just took advantage of the little gaps that they
gave them. Any little tiny break, any little tiny mistake
in Canada was all over them.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
They were like, this is the twentieth time these two
sides have met and seventeen wins to New Zealand. But
latterly it has been Canada who have had the wood
over the Black Funds and here they've done it in
fine style. They are ready for a big final, aren't they?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh my god? Yeah, I was watching the postgame interview
and the girls are just so elated and they don't
care who they see. They'll take France, they'll take England,
they don't care. They're they're there to win a game.
So whoever gets through that next semifinal will be up
for a battle, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Cindy nellis apart from coming out of the blocks so explosively,
what else really did you like about this Canadian women's
team today?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
I really like to see that they were trying to
play a quick style of rugby. They've got the fastest
rock speed in the tournament and they try to keep
the ball alive, so they are actually trying not to
have breakdowns not to have those slower rocks. So they're
really trying to prove their fitness is the best in
the competition and to force teams to keep up with them.

(02:17):
And so I think that that's really exciting to see
them and that style of play. The other thing I
will say too is they are quite physical and quite dominant,
and I mean New Zealand also is a very physical
and dominant team, so they were quite well matched today
to see both packs going at each other, So that
was really exciting for me as a lock, as a

(02:38):
former lock to see them going in battle.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
But the important part for Canada is that they dominated.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yes, Yeah, And it was really good to see Canada
had a few more line out opportunities to get their
mall rolling, and it's actually quite exciting to see they
have different tools in their toolbox, so it's not just
the typical mall drive, but they're trying to run off
the back of the lineups. They're trying to hit gaps
with players striking through that midfield. So it's really they've
got a lot of different tricks up their sleep.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
And you big players stood up, didn't are your nine
your four? You're eleven?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah? Absolutely. Yeah, Asia Hogan Rochester was outstanding on the
wing and I was always Sophie the Goody, but Justine
Peltier the halfback, did a phenomenal job today keeping that
ball alive and just picking those little gaps around the
rock to try to turn the hips of those New
Zealand defenders and put them into minds. So it was
a really exciting game to see. I will also say

(03:32):
too that at the seventy ninth minute, to see your
starting tight head prop Delika Menon still on the pitch
is quite an incredible feat, so shout out to her
for doing that.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Mahi on the field and you'll play as amateurs, yeah essentially.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, they're not paid by the union. They get an
appearance fee for games, but it's not really enough to
put the whole career on. It's not enough to survive
the year on. So a lot of the girls are
relying on trying to make a living in England in
the PWR, in the Professional Women's Rugby League over there,

(04:12):
and they are just trying to cobble together. But at
the moment they've got a big fundraiser going on to
help support their World Cup campaign because it's a lot
of time taking off work. I know talking to some
of the girls, they're like firefighters having to take time
away from their career and that sort of thing. So
they're really all of the players that are there are
making huge sacrifices to be there and it's really paid

(04:34):
off for them so far.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Well, the attitude showed no doubt about it. Congratulations once again,
Cindy Nellison and you'll part in the heritage of Canadian
women's rugby. Fantastic and bring on the final.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, I'll be looking forward to being able to cheer
undividedly for Canada and the Black Friends next weekend. So yeah,
it's exciting time for women's rugby. For more from News
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Speaker 1 (05:01):
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