Welcome home parade for Northland Black Fern hero Krystal Murray

Northlanders can welcome home local Black Ferns hero Krystal Murray with a parade through central Kaitaia.

The Northland Kauri rep was part of the victorious Black Ferns who edged England 34-31 in a gripping Women's Rugby World Cup final at Eden Park last weekend to send the country into a frenzy.

Murray came off the bench and crashed over in the corner to put her team in front.

New Zealand survived the deadly English maul to topple a team hailed by coach Wayne Smith as the best of all time, thrilling a record-breaking Eden Park crowd and completing their incredible resurgence.

The hosts were electric in attacking from all parts of the field, taking risks in possession and taking their chances when it mattered and even withstood the early loss of Portia Woodman.

She was forced from the field after a high shot from Lydia Thompson that left England to battle more than an hour with 14 players.

Kaitaia will tomorrow welcome Murray with a parade through town, followed by a meet and greet at Jaycee Park from 4.30pm.

The march at the smoke, drug and alcohol-free event will start at Kaitaia Plumbing at 4pm.
Murray's cousin Cheryl Murray said the whole of Kaitaia was "super proud" of a Rugby World Cup winner who hailed from such a small town.

Her whānau were at Eden Park for the final and Cheryl Murray said everyone was pretty "pumped up".

"We knew, as do everyone that knows her, give her the ball 5m from the tryline and there's no stopping her."

Murray was due to fly into Kaitaia last night and said apart from the parade, this week would be all about relaxing and a bit of fishing for the rugby star.

On whether her cousin's achievements would inspire girls up north to take up rugby, she said: "I've seen a few boys running around, thinking they too can be Black Ferns."

Northland Rugby Union chief executive Cameron Bell was also at the final and said anecdotally, more girls were believed to be taking up rugby since the Women's Rugby World Cup games began.

"We've started a Grow the Game campaign, in conjunction with Rugby For Life and we want to seize the momentum created by women's rugby. Already, we've had the U13 Rippa Girls show a huge amount of interest in the sport."

Bell said the final between the Black Ferns and England was completely unique and a real celebration of the game.

"The Black Ferns are not as structured as the All Blacks and because they give more air to the ball, they are exciting to watch. The way the girls expressed themselves and celebrated afterwards, it was just beautiful and it felt like they were reinvigorating our game."

While Murray will have strong memories of the final, thing won't be quite the same for fellow Northland Black Fern Portia Woodman. Woodman revealed she can't remember anything from the 34-31 win, with the winger being forced off the field in the 18th minute after a sickening head clash.

Until that point, Woodman had been the most dangerous player. The left wing racked up 75m while beating five defenders, showing why she was the top try scorer in the World Cup for the second tournament in a row.

However, on one dash to the line Woodman was knocked out of the match by an ugly head clash with Lydia Thompson - for which the English wing received a red card.

This article was first published by Northern Advocate and is republished here with permission.