Black Ferns: it could be a while before you see them again

Any hopes of seeing the World Champions in action any time soon must have been severely dented today with the news that the New Zealand RFU made a whopping loss of £4.5 million last year. With New Zealand authorities not noted for putting vast amounts of money into women's rugby at the best of times, the likelihood of  their helping the World Champions get together to play anyone seems small - unless, presumably, someone else pays.

Most (about £4 million) of this pretty impressive deficit is, apparently, due to their preparations for hosting the men's World Cup later this year - so any hopes for a repeat of last year's Women's Rugby World Cup final may depend on the financial success of its big brother.