Zoe Harrison: 'I felt I had to make up for it somehow'

Match-winner Zoe Harrison experienced every conceivable emotion in the final minutes of the Red Roses’ 26-19 victory over the Black Ferns.

The 28-year-old scored an intercept try with the final play of the game to help England avoid a second draw in as many weeks, just moments after she missed a penalty from 40 metres out.

Immediately back in the defensive line, Harrison picked off Amy du Plessis’ pass out wide to Braxton Sorensen-McGee and sent the 59,871 supporters in West London into pandemonium.

The fly-half even managed to compose herself and slot the conversion. It really was mind-boggling stuff.

“Obviously the kick didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I felt I had to make up for it somehow,” Harrison said.

“That last bit was a bit shit or bust. They had an overlap and I had to stop it somehow, so I just thought I had to get in their eyeline and grab the ball — and scored a try.”

There was an element of déjà vu from seven days prior. A week ago, the Red Roses never looked to the posts in their 26-26 draw. This time around, Harrison lined up a shot at goal.

She missed, but stayed in the contest long enough to make amends and pick off a New Zealand pass to win the game outright as England’s defence shone through.

Challenged sternly in all three of their WXV Global Series fixtures, it took a moment of individual brilliance from Harrison to win the contest and get the Red Roses back to winning ways, continuing their winning streak — which now sits at 41 games.

“I just thought ‘fair play to Zoe’,” Meg Jones said. “I said you create your own luck and that was that moment. New Zealand clearly wanted to play and put on a spectacle, which is amazing.

“We were able to capitalise because we were putting so much pressure on them in defence and that gave us the opportunity.

“Amazing Test match for us. I keep saying we’re playing the top teams now, so you’re just going to get absolutely everything thrown at you.”

England’s defence has been a subject of interest all week. The introduction of Shaun Edwards as a coaching consultant has been the main reason for this.

John Mitchell said it was his team’s defence that ultimately won the world champions the game. And Edwards’ introduction is clearly paying off already.

“He doesn’t say many words but you listen when he does,” Jones said. “He’s been praising us but his approach was for us to put as much pressure as possible on the Black Ferns, to make them force their play basically.

“So that’s the aim of the game — try to get in the opposition’s faces, make them play early and that puts us in a better position. I feel like we did that really well.”

Next month, the Red Roses will play two Test matches against Canada and once again the USA Women’s Eagles to conclude WXV Global Series 2026.