Ferns strewn and history made: A re-watch of the Red Roses WXV 1 triumph
So they huffed, and they puffed, and they blew the house in – storming the land of the long white cloud, and leaving ferns strewn across the lawn as they departed – the WXV 1 trophy stashed beneath one muscular arm.
The Red Roses – twelve months on from the hand that stole the final lineout, the heroics, and the heartbreak – trampled and scorched their way to the inaugural title, making the world champions look eminently mortal in the process.
For UK viewers, those 80 minutes were watched through initially bleary – but soon, awestruck – eyes on the sofa, as England racked up 33 points and permitted New Zealand just eleven minutes of scoreboard access of their own.
It was their tenth straight bonus point victory, and capped off an undefeated season. It was mightily impressive in all sorts of ways, and culminated in a history-making pot lift. It deserves, a few days on, a bit of a revisit.
Rikki Swannell sets out a stall as well as anyone, and calls this fixture with trademark passion and dexterity, but the disconnect between her promise of ‘the one everyone’s been waiting for’ and the swathes of empty seats is immediate. She’s dead right – this is a titanic headline fight – but the crowd is reminiscent of the Six Nations a decade ago.
This has been a soft launch for a tournament with huge potential, but you can only hope this is the last time the best two teams on the planet do battle in front of stands which are more abandoned than occupied.
A few moments stand out before kick-off. Marlie Packer wins the toss, expressionless – she’s always been one to snap the visor down early – but a beaming Ruahei Demant lets the smile slip off her face just as the captains leave the tunnel. Even the world’s best player gets nervous, it seems.
Perhaps, on some level, Demant knew that the Red Roses were the ones in form – and that the Player of the Year trophy would soon be stashed in an overhead locker, en route to Yeovil.
The New Zealand anthem is accompanied by a virtuosic electric guitar line – which proves a real vibe. Krystal Murray leads an anticipation-cranking, hackles-raising haka – watched on by a gently smiling Maud Muir, who’s made for occasions like these. Sky Sports emblazon ‘It’s Only Live Once’ across billboards, and they’re right, but there’s still – somehow – a sense of jeopardy, watching this back.
Holly Aitchison sends it long: so long that you assume it’s incontestable. Mo Hunt – opportunity-fuelled – hurtles into shot and gets the charge down. It’s immediately knocked on, and the sting’s taken out of that particular passage, but the gauntlet’s been thrown – and it’s red, rosy, and thorny.
The world’s best don’t need any time to make their mark on a test match, and that’s the case here. Sylvia Brunt’s soon carrying white jerseys along with her, like a tiny, jet-propelled clothes horse.
Claudia MacDonald gets her ‘defenders beaten’ stat ticking along within moments, and seems intent all evening on pushing it above the number of tickets sold. Sarah Bern is havoc-wreaking and blockbuster.
The Roses are playing out of their skins. Morwenna Talling fires off a five-metre offload. Alex Matthews is virtually omnipresent. Zoe Aldcroft displays a superhuman ability to hoover up metres each and every time she carries. After 17 phases, Georgia Ponsonby turns them over, but she’s a solitary sandbag in the face of a vengeful flood – and the hosts’ number is up off the back of the ensuing scrum.
A penalty’s drawn immediately, and Matthews’ control at the base is masterful. Over she goes, and so too does the conversion. Zoe Harrison will be back soon, which is fabulous, but it’s getting hard to imagine that number ten jersey without Aitchison in it. As the extras cleave the posts, she’s not missed a kick all competition.
Mererangi Paul on the left wing is as eye-catching as ever, but these initial exchanges are – ultimately – about as one-sided as an open sandwich. Demant drops a pass and Mackenzie Carson pounces. Abby Dow is hauled into touch as she attempts to counter, but the New Zealand lineout misfires spectacularly.
As Hunt feeds a ravenous white and red scrum, the Roses have had 90% possession. Dow goes again – her ability to decelerate, withdraw, and then surge onwards Mark Telea-esque – and every collision seems to tumble in their favour. It’s like every England player is one size bigger than their opposition number, and two notches angrier. Perhaps they are.
View this post on Instagram
Lark Atkin-Davies, launching an attacking line out in Auckland for the first time since that seismic final, is pinpoint, and soon has her fifth WXV 1 try. Sarah Hunter, watching on powerless in Auckland for the first time since the toughest day of her storied career, claps her hands and beams from the coaches’ box.
As Renee Holmes misses touch with an over-ambitious penalty, the Kiwis have had eight carries to England’s 38. They just can’t get or keep hold of the ball: their passes aren’t anything as clean as usual, or are placed so that their recipients are forced to check their runs to gather them.
A graphic pops up, titled ‘Dominance: World Cup titles’, reminding us that the side who’re yet to break a tackle have won the big dance six times, whilst England – up 14-0 – have triumphed just twice. If this were your first-ever experience of women’s rugby – you’d never believe it.
England are back in the Kiwi 22, and Aitchison is grinning behind their scrum. Eight phases later, Bern hurtles over. She’s unstoppable on days like these, but is helped no end by the chasm in the Black Ferns’ defence to the side of the ruck. The world champions lose more lineouts and cough up more possession, whilst the Roses keep the pedal flat to the floor. If it’s not Dow on the prowl – it’s MacDonald.
If it’s not MacDonald – it’s Kildunne. The fullback’s denied an absolute pearler by a few petulant blades of painted grass. England hustle and hustle in defence – leaping straight back up to their feet so New Zealand have nowhere to go, ball-in-hand.
Finally, in the 38th minute, the famed passes stick. Ruby Tui is unleashed down the right, and they’re up the other end – where Alana Bremner recycles a bouncing ball, and Dow can’t cover all three options. Kennedy Simon dummies and scythes through. It’s 19-7, and the hooter soon sounds.
Packer, Aldcroft, Matthews, and Aitchison wander towards the sheds – unhurried – the latter animated in her analysis, and flourishing as their playmaker.
Whatever Allan Bunting says at half-time has an effect. New Zealand are still being starved of the quantity of ball they’re used to, but they begin to make some hay through contact. Amy Rule, Chelsea Bremner, and Simon produce a few hefty carries – right as Packer has a few minutes off being utterly world-class.
A pair of penalties and a knock-on from the skipper gifts the Kiwis the territory they need to launch a devastatingly slick strike move, and Katelyn Vahaakolo is over. They’ve scored the last twelve points, and you wonder if the chase might just be on.
As it turns out, the door – having creaked open for all of ten tantalising minutes – is slammed shut again. The Red Roses put their shoulders back to the wheel, and exemplary service from Hunt allows every single carry to bring them closer to a fourth. Talling grounds it. Aitchison does the honours. 26-12.
Some coaches distil winning down to stringing together positive involvements – and this matchup exhibits that perfectly. One team repeatedly layers power with accuracy, and then sprinkles on some stardust – whilst the other can only follow a break with a knock-on or penalty.
Staying power counts, too, and England look incredibly well-conditioned: the clock claims we’re at 70 minutes, and yet Matthews is still puncturing the frayed black fabric of Kiwi defence, and they’re still routinely ripping possession from their hosts.
The talismanic Aldcroft gets a thoroughly deserved score to bring up 33-12. The poi whirl in the stands, but all the on-field dynamism is from the visitors – as Kildunne has yet another chalked off, and smiles wryly. She can afford to: they’re away and clear.
Appropriately, it’s a scrum penalty which concludes a contest in which England’s power game was world-beating. The on-field celebrations are wonderful, but not a patch on the magnificent shot we’re offered from the rubbish little camera in the coaches’ box. Hunter wiping away tears says it all: the Red Roses had returned to the scene of their great heartbreak, and swatted aside its ghosts en route to an emphatic, title-clinching victor
Post-match, Packer describes 2025 as ‘Everest’, and she’s right: it’s the pinnacle overshadowing all of this. England dominated the last cycle before being thwarted in the match which mattered most. You suspect they’d happily miss out on WXVs and Six Nations, if it meant they were the ones to triumph at a sold-out Twickenham in two years’ time.
That earlier on-screen graphic felt ill-timed, but its point stands: can they do it at a World Cup? Only time will tell, but what’s inarguable is that the newly-crowned WXV 1 champions are seriously, seriously good – and are only getting better.
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments