Is there anything that can stop the Red Roses in their current form? It is a question that was asked two years ago before New Zealand answered it in the Rugby World Cup final, where they ended England’s 30-match winning streak to lift the trophy. That game was the last time England lost and they are building a consecutive victory run again, adding a 19th with an impressive 49-31 win over the Black Ferns in the WXV 1, which means the question is being posed again.
The Black Ferns had a point to prove after back-to-back defeats. The first came at the hands of the Red Roses, who put one over their rivals three weeks ago at Twickenham, and Ireland caused a huge upset with a narrow victory last Sunday.
Despite the scoreline on Sunday, New Zealand demonstrated the danger they present, particularly through the No 8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker, who had a sensational game. But the lethal England back three of Ellie Kildunne, Abby Dow and player of the match Jess Breach – who scored seven tries between them, with Breach the hat-trick heroine – proved too much for the world champions.
England’s head coach, John Mitchell, said: “We are very much a team that has evolved into a one attack team, so coming together cohesively in attack, everyone has a responsibility. As you can see we are quite comfortable playing both sides of the ruck.”
New Zealand made a ferocious start and repeatedly hit the English defensive wall. The pressure caused the Red Roses to cough up a penalty and the Black Ferns opted for a scrum. Olsen-Baker peeled away from the base and steamrolled Natasha Hunt – a fend reminiscent of Jonah Lomu running over Mike Catt in the 1995 Rugby World Cup – to open the scoring.
England responded by whipping the ball from left to right and Kildunne shipped it over the head of Marlie Packer to find Dow, whose pace levelled the scores. The speed of the game did not slow with both teams putting together some beautiful attacking plays but neither were clinical enough to finish it off until Breach crashed over the whitewash. The centre Helena Rowland, who was given the kicking tee instead of the fly-half Holly Aitchison, missed the conversion and had only two successful kicks.
Kildunne opened her account next but then New Zealand’s own deadly try-scorer Ayesha Leti-I’iga was over for her first score since returning from almost two years on the sidelines with injury. Just before half-time Kildunne struck gold again, England heading into the break 22-12 up.
Dow extended England’s lead early into the second half and Hunt’s clever thinking added another score shortly after. She charged down a kick from Renee Homes and caught it to score. If England were not already pulling away, Breach added another to land a further blow.
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New Zealand swung momentum in their direction and forced England to concede successive penalties. It led to some prolonged possession which ended with the hooker Georgia Ponsonby pulling two England defenders over the tryline to score. The physicality in the match was not letting up and neither was the rapid pace. End-to-end rugby saw Olsen-Baker intercept a pass by Aitchison, who then made a sensational break, and New Zealand recycled quickly with Maiakawanakaulani Roos scoring. Tries from Breach, the replacement Zoe Harrison and the New Zealand replacement Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu rounded off the action to deal the Black Ferns a third defeat from three games against England in the past 12 months.
On how New Zealand can improve, the co-captain Ruahei Demant said: “I think it is a bit more skill set and the good thing about that is you can teach skills. Things like signing your receiver when we’re making breaks, instead of five people screaming at the ball carrier, just one person. I hope we can implement that in our training this week and we can put out an 80-minute performance that we know we are capable of, we’re proud of and our country can be proud of.”
The victory for England sets up a WXV 1 trophy decider against Canada next week. England lead the table after also beating the USA, while Canada have also had an unbeaten start with wins over France and Ireland.