Yapp reflects on ‘really competitive’ half as Wallaroos tested Red Roses

Australia have achieved their first goal at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, qualifying for the quarter-finals ahead of the USA on points differential. England ran away with a 47-7 win, but a “really competitive” first half set the Aussies on the path towards the knockouts.

Following last week’s 31-all draw with the USA Women’s Eagles in York, the Wallaroos needed to wait another week to find out whether they’d be bound for the next stage. With the USA playing earlier on Saturday, the Aussies would know what they’d need to do to qualify.

The Eagles recorded a dominant 60-nil win over Samoa’s Manusina, meaning the Wallaroos had a superior points difference of +75 before taking on the Red Roses. While the Americans hoped for a one-sided England win, it quickly became clear that wouldn’t be the case.

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Adiana Talakai crashed over in the fifth minute to give the Wallaroos a shock 5-nil lead, before Samantha Wood added the extras. It took the Red Roses 31 minutes to take the lead for the first time, with Abbie Ward scoring the go-ahead try.

England had taken control by the time the teams disappeared down the tunnel for half-time, but Australia’s performance in the first 30 minutes turned heads. As coach Yapp alluded to after the match, the scoreline didn’t tell the full story.

“We probably feel a little bit the same that the scoreline just blew out a little bit in the second half,” Yapp told reporters.

“The first half, we were really in the game and we were really competitive and we were executing what we wanted to do.

“We always knew England were going to come out hard in the second half and we just started to lose a couple of our launch plays which just put ourselves under pressure.”

England scored another four tries in the second term as the hosts registered another big win to round out pool play. The Red Roses also defeated the USA and Samoa, and will face Six Nations rivals Scotland in the quarter-finals next weekend.

Kaitlan Leaney, Eva Karpani, Siokapesi Palu and Ashley Marsters had the most carries out of any Wallaroo in the Test, while Piper Duck made the most tackles in the team. Tabua Tuinakauvadra made a noticeable impact off the bench, securing three turnovers – the most of any player.

There was a lot to like about this Australian performance, and the vibe from Yapp and some of the players was fairly positive post-game. While acknowledging it wasn’t a perfect performance, the Wallaroos are thrilled to be quarter-final bound, with Canada up next in Bristol.

“Ultimately we’ve got to the quarters which was the first that that we obviously wanted to make sure that we did,” Yapp said.

“There were areas of the game that were really positive but again, there’s areas that we need clearly focus.

“We lost a bit of a platform to play off in the second half so we’ll look at that and we’ll preview Canada and pick ourselves up again for next week.”