It doesn't take anything away from last year’s achievement, but the fact that New Zealand’s starting XV for this afternoon’s Rugby World Cup Pool C decider in Brighton has just six survivors from last year’s defeat to Ireland in Vancouver is an indication of what we can expect today.
The Black Ferns were humbled by a fearless Irish team that night, and it’s unlikely Allan Bunting’s side will be in any way complacent with top spot in the pool on the line.
When the sides met last year, Ireland head coach Scott Bemand was able to call upon several of the Irish Olympic Sevens stars for that WXV campaign.
Amee-Leigh Costigan and Stacey Flood both started the game, while Emily Lane, Erin King, Eve Higgins and Vicky Elmes Kinlan were all available off the bench just a few weeks on from representing their country at Paris 2024.
New Zealand won gold at those games, but they went into that WXV series without their Sevens stars. Four of those gold medalists start this afternoon; Scrum-half Risi Pouri-Lane, centre Stacey Waaka, wing Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and flanker Jorja Miller, while a fifth, Theresa Setefano, is on the bench.
Woodman-Wickliffe is one of the all-time New Zealand greats. Last week agaisnt Japan, she reached 50 tries for the Black Ferns, a national record across both the men’s and women’s game. The wing has come out of retirement for this tournament, as she looks to win a third World Cup title.
If, as expected, she finishes her career this month, there will be a torch to be passed on. Nobody seems in a better position to pick it up than Miller.
The 21-year-old Olympic champion only made her debut in the XVs game in May, and just four caps into her Test career, she has emerged as potentially the brightest talent in the game.
Through two matches at this World Cup, the flanker – who cites Richie McCaw as her rugby icon - is putting up eye-watering numbers.
She has scored two tries apiece in the wins against Spain and Japan, and leads the tournament for defenders beaten with 17, while her seven clean breaks are more than any other forward.
From just 18 carries, she has 263 metres with the ball in hand, again the most of any forward in the competition.
An all-action, modern forward, every element of New Zealand’s game seems to involve her. Defensively, she leads the team for tackles with 18, while she has also arrived at the most opposition rucks.
In short, there is hardly a phase of the game where she isn’t involved. How Ireland contain her will be key to any hopes of a shock win on Sunday.
"Jorja Miller is an incredible runner of the ball," Ireland full-back Stacey Flood said.
Flood has previously played against the 21-year-old on the Sevens circuit, and is not surprised to see how easily she has transferred those skills to the XVs game.
"We also saw her on the series last year, and at the Olympics, but she's also shown that in her XVs game, and she's a really big threat for them.
"We have to know what we can do to counter that. Also, how we're going to defend as a squad, or attack as a squad against those players, because they have jackal threats on the outside channels from playing Sevens."
Miller was only 19-years-old when she signed a four-year contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union in 2023, which at the time was the longest contract a Kiwi player had agreed with the union, and had it not been for her commitment to the Sevens programme ahead of the Olympics last year, her debut in the XVs game would have come long before May of this year.
Rugby is steeped in her family, with her father and mother both playing to a high level, while her mesmerising footwork can also be explained by a background in dancing. Along with rugby, highland dancing was one of her passions growing up, to the extent that she won a national age-grade title.
A dancer’s feet and a rugby player’s grit can be a damgerous combination.
"In a world class outfit, you're going to have a class back five and Jorja Miller is a really good example of a hybrid athlete," said Brittany Hogan, who will be keeping tabs on Miller in the back row today.
"She's shone here on the world stage, and that's where she belongs, she was unbelievable. And just really looking forward to having that challenge and having that personal challenge against her."
She's burning up the pitch! 🔥
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) August 31, 2025
Jorja Miller with yet another scorcher 😮💨#RWC2025 | #NZLvJPN pic.twitter.com/1tv28e7USN
Her two tries in last Sunday’s win against Japan illustrate the "hybrid athlete" the Hogan described.
Her first score, on 15 minutes, saw her dance through three defenders from 40 metres out, before adding her second try 13 minutes from the end, poaching a ball at a ruck and sprinting into the distance before the majority of the Japanese defenders even noticed she was there.
There will have been discussions and review sessions about limiting her impact, but it can be a dangerous game to narrow the focus too much on one player, particularly in a side as stacked with talent as the Black Ferns.
And Flood insists the best way to tackle that threat is to take the broad approach.
"We'll never look at players individually, it's always from a team aspect. Anything could happen at any minute of the game, and if we're in our systems and we're sticking by our principles of what we need to do, they shouldn't find a way.
"In rugby, there's always a way so we just have to realise what we need to do to manage the situation, depending on what happens."
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