New Zealand consigned the Wallaroos to a third Pacific Four wooden spoon with their 30th consecutive victory over Australia’s women. The Black Ferns preserved their 32-year undefeated record with a 40-5 win in Queensland on Saturday night.
Siokapesi Palu scored Australia’s lone try in a typically inspirational captain’s display, but New Zealand’s six-tries-to-one drubbing followed up the Wallaroos’ 24-0 loss to Canada and 33-12 loss to the USA in the round-robin tournament featuring four of women’s rugby’s top eight sides.
The Wallaroos had been hopeful of celebrating lock Michaela Leonard’s 46th Test with a win, but she eclipsed Ashley Masters to become the most-capped Wallaroos in an all-too-familiar loss, this time at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
In Sam Needs’s final Test as interim coach before Rugby Australia names a permanent replacement, the Wallaroos trailed 29-5 at the break. First-half tries to Amy du Plessis and Liana Mahutariki-Fakalelu, either side of a double for Ayesha Leti-I’iga, did the damage for New Zealand.
Laura Bayfield and Justine McGregor completed the demolition job in the more competitive second half from the Wallaroos.
“Look, despite the score, despite the 30 wins in a row, that was actually a really hard game out there,” said gracious New Zealand captain Kennedy Tukuafu. “We know that Australia have nothing to lose coming into this game. It’s their first game at home for the season and we knew that they were going to come out exactly like that with nothing to lose.”
Preferring only to look ahead, Leonard was philosophical in defeat. “We came with a plan and we did that,” she said. “We’ve got to give credit to New Zealand. They’re a world-class team for a reason, and they definitely outperformed us. But there’s glimpses of positives. We’ve done really well to put together a performance with the little time that we’ve had. It’s just up to us to go into our Super season, play well, and then look forward to the World Series.”