Red Roses claim debut WXV1 victory in Wellington
It was an historic night for rugby with the WXV1 kicking off in Wellington. The Wallaroos faced the mountainous task of tackling the world’s number-one-ranked team, England.
A Player of the Match performance from first five-eighth Holly Aitchison drove England around the park with creative and skilful distribution from both hands and off the boot.
England were determined to make their mark on the defensive side of the ball early, putting in several heavy hits and a couple of (legal) tip tackles for good measure.
The famous English lineout was employed as a decoy on the first strike play of the game, drawing in the Australian forwards with Hannah Botterman peeling around the back. The prop ran through three defenders to finish the try just five minutes into the contest.
More aggressive defence and superb lineout work from England rejected the Wallaroos’ early opportunities. Still, Australia’s midfield was keen to return the favour and stripped Tayana Heard to spark some ambitious attack.
The ball was spread from sideline to sideline with each of the Wallaroos’ wingers proving difficult to contain and chewing through metres in the wide channels.
England’s handling let them down but patient and clinical work around the breakdown and in the scrum saw them keep control of the Test. Meanwhile, on attack, their kicking game consistently found gaps for Abby Dow to chase and the speedster’s work rate saw the ball retained more often than not.
Halfback Ella Wyrwas was the next to strike for the English, finishing a dynamic strike in the corner.
Maya Stewart went down after heavy contact in the 17th minute, handing Desiree Miller extended minutes in her debut.
Both sides proved dangerous with ball in hand, but it was England’s execution deeper into phase play along with their varied kicking game and lineout dominance that saw them profit on the scoreboard for their efforts.
A yellow card to Wallaroos lock Annabelle Codey for head contact was followed by a lineout drive try to English captain Marlie Packer.
Australia finally got an attacking set piece in England’s 22 30 minutes into the match, but another lineout steal by England deprived the Wallaroos of the chance to capitalise. It was again the English lineout that provided the space for Jess Breach to score the fourth try of the contest just before halftime. A 28-0 scoreline was registered at the break.
England’s lineout nous again dominated in the second period, ensuring territorial gain from Australia’s indiscretions was realised and denying the Wallaroos any reward for their hard-earned turnovers.
That was until the 53rd minute, when the pressure from Australia’s tireless attack finally gave Ashley Masters the ball five metres from the line after a quick tap from Layne Morgan. The utility forward took contact and powered through to claim Australia’s first points of the match.
The celebrations were short-lived as Australia took a double blow just moments later, conceding a try to Megan Jones as well as another yellow card, which subsequently called for red as it was again Annabelle Codey found guilty, this time of a late hit.
Before long the Wallaroos lost another player as Carys Dallinger bravely walked from the field after sustaining a knock.
The defensive screws had tightened later in the third quarter and England’s phase play struggled to find the gain line. For the first tie in the match, the world’s top-ranked team were forced to make a kick that wasn’t on their terms. Wyrwas opted to put the ball high, which Australia accepted.
Sniffing momentum, the Wallaroos’ energy lifted. Some niggle entered the fray and the game settled in England’s half. Time was running low and facing a 35-point deficit, the Wallaroos were playing for consolation points.
Relentless effort from both sides in the dying moments went ultimately unrewarded but the late push will have given Wallaroos coach Jay Tregonning plenty of positives to draw on for the schedule ahead. Fulltime score: 43-7.
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny 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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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.
2 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
2 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 commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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