The Black Ferns will take on Wales tonight but it is not the semifinal which they would have wanted and expected.
The side lost to Ireland in a pool match and then, when Canada and England drew, the Black Ferns were out of the running to win their fifth straight World Cup.
Former Black Ferns assistant coach John Kyle, of Dunedin, said the Black Ferns were terribly unlucky.
''They thrashed the United States which they needed to do and if other results had gone the way they were expected to do then we would have made the semifinals,'' he said.
''But then Canada and England drew, which no-one would have picked. Those two teams went through and New Zealand was out.''
He said with 12 teams in three pools, losing one game meant the side was in trouble.
''To lose to Ireland by three points and go out of the tournament is very harsh.''
He said other nations were putting a lot of money into the sport and they were catching up.
With sevens going into the Olympics, money was going into the sport and there was a spillover into 15s.
He said the Black Ferns coaches were aware of that and worked extremely hard to stay ahead.
The number of women playing the game had dropped in New Zealand but that was the same with the men's game.
There used to be a Dunedin competition with at least a dozen teams but it was down to five this season.
Kyle said in the end it was a numbers game and more players playing the game led to a better national team.
Margaret McCarrigan (nee McKenzie), who played for the Black Ferns and Otago, said the side was unlucky and if the tournament was expanded to 16 teams, which it should have been, then New Zealand would still be in the running for the title.
Ireland was a good side but finished behind England and France in the Six Nations.
''But I looked at some of those teams and they are vastly experienced.
''They have played a lot of games. One of the Irish girls had 50-odd caps and she had never played against the Black Ferns,'' she said.
''I'm not sure we play enough games. And three years ago they took away the NPC for a year and that hurt. There is a whole lot of little things.
''Were some of the girls just a bit too old for it ?''
She said coaching was vitally important and the right people had to be involved in a vibrant structure to keep women playing.
That was not always the case.
