They streamed into the game in their tens of thousands; mums, dads, girl, boys. They were there not just to witness an epic game, but history.

When the Black Ferns launched into their pre-match haka, the 40,000 strong Eden Park crowd roared; it was a Rugby World Cup first, the biggest crowd ever to watch a women’s rugby team perform.

It was a thriller of a match, played at the pace that has become the Black Ferns’ signature style.

And in the end, the Kiwis kept a powerful England out with a scoreline of 34-31.

But win or lose, this Black Ferns team has already changed the face of rugby forever, say experts.

Their success has brought legions of new fans to the game at a time when grassroots and schoolboy rugby has been in decline.

Professor Jennifer Curtin a researcher of women and rugby union from the 1860s says there have been trailblazers in women’s rugby before, as far back as the 1890s.

“But what has happened up until the 1990s is that it's been what I call a collective amnesia; each time women play rugby and do it really well and try and get it recognised…they’re seen as pioneers because there’s a forgetfulness or lack of official record of what's gone before....

“What this moment, what this Rugby World Cup and this team have ensured, I would argue, is that collective amnesia...that's not going to happen this time. They’ve cured New Zealand women’s rugby as something that can no longer be ignored or potentially underfunded or playing second fiddle to the sevens. This is a thing now, this is it.”

Curtin, who bought her tickets to the final within days of them going on sale, said the biggest revelation of the tournament had been the way the Black Ferns changed the face of the traditional rugby crowd.

Even among her own circle of friends and colleagues, people who had never been to a rugby game were scrambling to get tickets.

“The difference with whānau and just large numbers of women playing and watching with their kids, brings a different kind of energy and different kind of enthusiasm potentially one that might rejuvenate the code as a whole because we know that …women have turned away from men’s rugby.

“There’s been a lack of appeal for a couple of decades now...there's a bunch of reasons why maybe only two thirds or less of the population see it as a game they might watch every Saturday. And this might change that, maybe. But there is a joy and enthusiasm, a different vibe that you get at these games that you don't get at an All Blacks match.

“I think this is a credit to the women who are playing in the Black Ferns team as ambassadors for this game; it's just the vibe that comes from their social media presence, the way they market the products that are sponsoring them; there is a joie de vie that emanates from them that appeals to a different group of people.

The challenge now was for New Zealand Rugby to pick up the opportunity presented by the Black Ferns success and run with it.

“The financial investment …has to come now; this isn't just a spectacle; this is a serious game with a serious team. They have to own this now in a way that’s more than just celebrating how great they are; they need to bring them into the fold a little more explicitly and start investing in the game at the grassroots level for women and girls.

“This will be an absolutely lost opportunity if they don’t make the most of it.”

Eroni Clarke, who played 10 tests for the All Blacks in the 1990s, was at Eden Park last night for the RWC final. His son Caleb Clarke is with the All Blacks, who play Scotland Monday morning in Edinburgh.

Clarke, who made his test debut in 1992, the year after the first women's RWC, was delighted with how far the women's game had come since.

“I'm so glad to see how the game is growing in the women's space and it's wonderful to see what the Rugby World Cup has done so far. It's certainly lifted the popularity of the game, and in the women's space.

"I really see the game going from strength to strength from here. This has been a real catalyst, or just probably added more fuel to the growing fast lanes of the women's game here in the southern hemisphere, particularly.

"We do need to ensure that the internal structures of the women's game, and the voices of our women, are heard in terms of really strengthening and building a stronger framework.

“It's important that we don't use the template of the way the men's game was successful and expect to use it on the women's game."

One of the magical aspects of the RWC was the free-flowing nature of it, with emphasis on using space, and less physicality.

There are fears those aspects could be lost as the game moves to be more and more professional, with bulking up in the gym, more speed and fitness, with one result more risk of concussion.

Clarke told Stuff he could see those concerns, but there were not as immediate as other aspects.

"Sure enough, the game is a contact sport. And there's going to be interest, but what we need to do is to continue to ensure first and foremost that we're building an environment for our women, a rugby environment where our women can thrive and can flourish.

"There are aspects of a woman's game to think about - for example, family. We have to approach our whole rugby environment when we are looking at the women's game, those are the bedrocks we need to begin to look at first, before we think `well, let's have a look at the physicality of the game'. Once we get those bedrocks sorted, then it will actually begin to influence some of these other ways that we actually play the game."

When he was setting out in rugby, blockbusting All Black winger Bryan Williams was his hero.

"In the other generations it's Richie McCaw, it's Jonah Lomu, it's Daniel Carter, it's Beauden Barrett. Now so many young women and girls who are watching the Black Ferns play and saying they want to be Portia Woodman, they want to be Ruby Tui, they want to be Theresa Fitzpatrick, all these amazing women - the Bremner sisters - and so they'll be inspired, part of their aspirations will be now to also play football for the Black Ferns.

I've had the privilege of my rugby journey, to journey with some of the girls that were at the very beginnings of women's rugby playing at the highest level. It started there and those women have become heroes to other young girls, and of course I would imagine some of those young women playing in the Black Ferns today were inspired by those women.”

Clark said the RWC ripples would be felt in Australia, and across the Pacific now that women have seen the possibilities. In the Pacific Islands government, family and cultural challenges are bigger than in Aotearoa.

The success of the New Zealand team hasn't just inspired Kiwi fans – Australian team media manager Maggie Kerr said they had been blown away by the experience of playing in New Zealand.

“The resources that world rugby and New Zealand rugby have been able to throw at the world cup have made it the event that it is.

“I speak for the girls when I say they were thrilled with the events and the audience that came along to watch; for most of them it was the biggest crowd they'd ever played for.

“It was a really incredible feeling to have that many people in a stadium whether they were cheering us on or the other team. The spectacle of it all was amazing.”

The Australian team were now looking at what lessons they could take from the experience.

“Absolutely we are looking to NZ in a variety of ways to understand how they put us on this massive event; what works and what didn't.....we would just like to match the incredible standard NZ rugby have put on”

The event has also been a fillip for local businesses.

Churly’s Brewpub general manager Upokoina George-Yates said his business had seen an uplift when Women’s Rugby World Cup games were played at Eden Park.

The Mt Eden restaurant and bar saw a 25% to 30% increase in customers on game days, and expected that to be exceeded by Saturday's final, he said.

While the Black Ferns effect did not have the same impact as an All Blacks game, in which the business could double its revenue, it was welcomed by the local hospitality businesses, he said.

“We were pretty unsure what the impact would be, but we have definitely seen it bring in some more people. It has a good kick in effect,” George-Yates said.

Simon Bridges, chief executive of the Auckland chamber of commerce said the Women’s Rugby World Cup had exceeded all expectations for local business.

“The fact that Post-Covid people are ready to get out and about, and that the Black Ferns have done so well, so good numbers of fans have come from out of town and overseas,” Bridges said.

Hospitality businesses around Eden Park have loved the event, and it showed the value in attracting and holding big events in Tamaki Makaurau, Bridges said.

Credit: stuff.co.nz