‘We can win this game’: Wallaroos chase historic first against Black Ferns

30 Tests have been played between the Wallaroos and Black Ferns since September 1994, with the New Zealanders emerging victorious every time. But the Aussies aren’t shying away from their shot at history, heading across the ditch with the belief “that we can win this game.”

The Wallaroos fell to a 35-point defeat in the last meeting between the rivals on April 25, in a historic Anzac Day fixture between the sides on the Sunshine Coast. Siokapesi Palu Sekona was the sole try-scorer for the Wallaroos, as the Black Ferns retained the O’Reilly Cup.

But a lot has happened in the women’s rugby calendar between then and now. Following matches against Canada, the USA and New Zealand, the Aussie national team players returned to their Super Rugby Women’s clubs ahead of the 2026 season.

The NSW Waratahs secured a title-winning three-peat for the second time in less than 10 years, before falling to Super Rugby Aupiki champions the Blues 24-17 in a thrilling Champions Final at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval.

Wallaroos squad members reassembled last week ahead of the second O’Reilly Cup Test, before flying across the Tasman last Thursday. As the Wallaroos continue to prepare for the 100^th Test in team history, assistant coach Mike Ruthven insists the team is confident.

“We’ve come here with the mindset that we can win the game. That’s certainly how we’ve prepared; that’s certainly been the messaging to the group this week,” Ruthven told reporters.

“We’ve focused really hard on certain aspects of the game that are going to position us to go out and perform really well.

“Focus on performance, with the understanding that if we can be really consistent around that, hopefully the outcome will look after itself.

“We’ve certainly come here with the mindset that we can win this game.”

The Wallaroos suffered a string of heavy defeats to the Black Ferns across the 2023 and 2024 Test seasons, losing by at least 40 points in three straight meetings. But then, before the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Wallaroos reduced the margin.

Eva Karpni was among the try-scorers as the Wallaroos put up a fight at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium on May 10, 2025. It was a 26-point ballgame that day, and was a similar margin when the sides met two months later in New Zealand’s windy capital.

This season has been a bit different, with players splitting off to their Super Rugby Women’s clubs after the Pac Four Series, and then regrouping ahead of an O’Reilly Cup clash and the new-look WXV Global Series 2026.

“The Test window from the front end of the year to now, there’s been a fair gap of time but I think the beauty of that, the girls have been able to go back, play a Super season, get some footy under their belt – certainly coming in a bit more hardened than potentially what we were in that Pac Four Series,” Ruthven said.

“We’re certainly in a far better position just based on the fact that the girls have got more footy under their belt coming into this.

“The coaching group have done an excellent job this week to give a really simple, really clear, really considered plan around how we want to attack the game and the girls have transferred that really well.”