Hosts and reigning champions New Zealand yesterday came through a huge early scare to beat Australia 41-17 in their opening match at the women’s Rugby World Cup in front of a record crowd at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Three quick tries had the Wallaroos dominating the Pool A clash at 17-0 up inside the first half an hour and it was only when Australia were reduced to 13 women early in the second half that the home side edged ahead.
Prolific winger Portia Woodman scored a hat-trick and Ruby Tui grabbed a late double as the five-times world champions scored seven unanswered tries to seal what was ultimately a comfortable win.
Photo: AP
“It was definitely a game of two halves,” New Zealand captain Ruahei Demant said. “Australia really put us under the pump there right from the start. I’m proud of how we closed off that first half and the way that we finished that game.”
Australia, who had never beaten the Black Ferns in 22 previous attempts, started as if determined to spoil New Zealand’s party, with winger Bienne Terita crossing twice in the right corner after running around the home defense.
In between Terita’s tries, her fellow winger Ivania Wong picked up a loose pass and raced 60m to score to silence the crowd of more than 35,000.
Photo: AFP
Lock Joanah Ngan-Woo finally got the Black Ferns on the board with a bulldozing run just after the half-hour mark and two tries from Woodman in 11 minutes around the break tied the scores up at 17-17.
The match turned decisively in the 53rd minute, when Wong and Australia captain Shannon Parry were shown yellow cards within a few seconds of each other. Before the two returned, replacement prop Awhina Tangen-Wainohu had forced her way over the line to secure New Zealand a bonus point and Woodman bagged her third try.
Tui’s late show with two classic winger’s finishes was more what New Zealand fans had expected as the Black Ferns look to defend their title.
Photo: AFP
Earlier, in-form England opened their campaign in imperious style by crushing Fiji 84-19, while France were also convincing winners on day one.
England extended their unbeaten run to 26 matches and scored their most points in a World Cup game, but only after surviving early fireworks from Fiji and taking a tight 24-14 advantage into halftime.
The ninth edition of the tournament opened with two entertaining affairs, with fellow European heavyweights France earlier scoring six tries to dispatch South Africa 40-5.
Six Nations champions England left little doubt that they will be the team to beat at the 12-nation tournament, unleashing a mix of speed and power in a match that brought together the highest and lowest-ranked teams.
Claudia MacDonald scored four tries, while fellow winger Lydia Thompson bagged a double in what was a record World Cup points haul for England, surpassing their 82-0 demolition of Kazakhstan in 2010.
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