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Sport Nation
Why Tui's Black Ferns axing struck a chord with former All Black Dagg
Sport Nation • May 2nd, 2025 12:00 pm
Photo: Photosport
Veteran Ruby Tui's shock omission from Alan Bunting's Black Ferns squad raised plenty of eyebrows across the nation on Thursday.
Tui was one of three World Cup champions from the 2022 squad - alongside Chelsea Bremner and Renee Holmes - to be left out of the 33-strong group that will assemble next week to prepare for the upcoming Pacific Four Series.
With the tournament the team's final opportunity to test their wares before their World Cup defence, it suggests the trio won't feature in the squad that travels to England in August.
The news struck a particular chord with former All Black and Sport Nation host Israel Dagg, whose own character arc in the wake of the 2011 World Cup followed a similar trajectory to Tui's.
As was the case for Tui in her respective Black Ferns campaign three years ago, Dagg was one of the stars for the All Blacks in their drought-breaking run to the William Webb Ellis Cup on home soil, before being overlooked for the ensuing defence in Europe in 2015.
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"I hate to reference myself, but it's really similar," Dagg admitted on Friday's edition of Scotty & Izzy.
"At home, I played the World Cup at home in 2011. I was a young kid, had a really good, solid World Cup. Put my name on the map.
"Following that, there was a lot of fandom, a lot of fanfare, everything was coming my way. Then four years later in 2015, I got dropped for the World Cup that was over in the UK.
"That's kind of where Ruby's at at the moment."
Dagg noted the one discrepancy in the comparison between the two situations in their respective ages. While he was still only 25 years old in 2015, Tui is much further down the track at 33 years old.
Paying tribute to Tui's impact on growing the women's game in New Zealand, Dagg believes - speaking from his own experience - the omission may light a fuse that may have been lying dormant in the Olympic gold medallist.
"You have to really sit back and appreciate what she has done for women's rugby and the game of rugby in this country. She's put it on the map," he continued.
"She's a standout. She has broken the mould in terms of media. She's not really the same old cliché answers that we get from 99 percent of players.
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"She'll be absolutely gutted. But from my experience, it really puts a bit of drive and a bit of edge deep down, and it will probably make Ruby look at the game from a different perspective.
"No one ever wants to go through this but this is a part of sport and it's always going to happen.
The next thing for her is how does she react to this, and from all accounts she's reacted really well and put her head down and continued to go on."
With the World Cup squad set to be announced at the conclusion of the Pacific Four series, Dagg doesn't see too much hope for the veteran threesome to force their way back in to the fold.
"They don't have much time. They've got three games in the Pacific Four and then they're going off to the World Cup, so you've got to play your cards now because we cannot wait around and continue as we have, particularly after seeing what England are doing.
"They are battle-hardened, they're game ready, they're at home and they are going to be very, very difficult."
The Black Ferns take on Australia in the Pacific Four opener on May 10.
