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Black Ferns come back to cruise past Australia in World Cup opener

October 8, 2022
The Black Ferns and Wallaroos in action at Eden Park.

Relive our live coverage of the Black Ferns victory over Australia in their first match of the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park.

FT: NZL 17-41 NZL

79min: NZL 17-41 NZL

The match is almost over but the Black Ferns aren't taking their foot of the pedal just yet. They try to attack but get the ball back and it's all over.

77min: AUS 17-41 NZL

Tui is at it again trying to create something on attack. We reset and the Black Ferns have the ball.

74min: AUS 17-41 NZL

NZL TRY!

Tui is over for another five points. Following a superb offload from Demant, Tui raced to the try line to extend New Zealand's lead. Tubic is unsuccessful with the conversion.

72min: AUS 17-36 NZL

Australia are trying to create something here but they lose the ball. New Zealand kicks it out into touch and we head to a Black Ferns lineout.

68min: AUS 17-36 NZL

NZL TRY!

The Black Ferns have possession and continue to chip away. After a tough effort all game, Tui gets the ball out on the right side and scores. Hazel Tubic who has come off the bench misses the conversion.

65min: AUS 17-31 NZL

Tui makes some metres as New Zealand continues to attack. Fluhler is coming off to a huge applause from the crowd after a tremendous performance.

63min: AUS 17-31 NZL

Parry and Wong who both got yellow cards for Australia are now back in the game. Parry comes on and instantly gets into it collecting the loose ball off the Black Ferns lineout.

60min: AUS 17-31 NZL

NZL TRY!

Fluhler has been on fire. She gets the ball and steamrolls the Australia defence, throwing it up to Woodman who gets over the line.

58min: AUS 17-24 NZL

Fluhler dotches the Wallaroos defence, making a run and offloading to Tui who storms through. She loses the ball and we head to an Australia scrum.

56min: AUS 17-24 NZL

NZL TRY!

The Black Ferns push towards their line and Awhina Tangen-Wainohu comes off the bench to score. Holmes successfully converts the try.

55min: AUS 17-17 NZL

Tui has been outstanding, she makes a break and tries everything to get rid of the Australian defence pulling her down.

54min: AUS 17-17 NZL

Mikaele-Tu'u is coming off for a HIA following her clash with Parry. Kendra Reynolds is running onto the field.

We are going to a New Zealand scrum.

53min: AUS 17-17 NZL

AUS YELLOW CARDS!

Amy Rule makes a break off a nice offload from Demant facing contact. Wong gets a yellow card for Australia due to a deliberate knock on in defence.

TMO is now checking potential foul play from Australia. The replay shows captain Shannon Parry making direct head contact with Mikaele-Tu’u. Parry also goes to the bin with a yellow card.

51min: AUS 17-17 NZL

We go to a scrum and Australia earns a penalty. They decide to go for the kick but McKenzie misses it.

48min: AUS 17-17 NZL

Holmes misses the conversion kick and we are all tied up. An incredible comeback from the home team. They'll have to maintain this as the Wallabies continue to put pressure on them.

46min: AUS 17-17 NZL

NZL TRY!

Captain Demant makes a break. She passes off to Sarah Hirini in support and they go out wide to Woodman who goes one on one with Terita to score.

45min: AUS 17-12 NZL

Australia's Georgina Friedrichs tries to get past the Black Ferns defence but they are struggling to make metres like they did in the first half. Holmes makes a break for the Black Ferns.

43min: AUS 17-12 NZL

The Black Ferns try to go quick out wide, trying to get to Woodman but she can't quite collect the ball and we head to a scrum for Australia.

40min: AUS 17-12 NZL

Cocksedge gets the second half underway. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u fights for the ball as the Black Ferns win possession. They try to advance through the maul but Australia earn a penalty.

HT: AUS 17-12 NZL

That's it for the first forty minutes of action. Australia came out firing from the first whistle dominating territory and stunning both the Black Ferns and the local crowd with three tries. But the Black Ferns hit back with two tries in under five minutes.

It was an entertaining and feisty first half from both nations, something you would expect from a trans-Tasman clash. So stay with us team, we'll have more of the action soon.

41min: AUS 17-12 NZL

New Zealand earns a penalty from the ruck and Ruahei Demant bangs it into touch as we go to the break.

40min: AUS 17-12 NZL

New Zealand concede a penalty and we're off to a Australia lineout. Following another penalty which led to a scrum, Australia create some pressure on attack.

35min: AUS 17-12 NZL

NZL TRY!

Just like that, the Black Ferns are back on the scoreboard again. Portia Woodman goes right through the Australian defence, despite the heavy contact she powers through, spins and gets the ball down to score. The try goes unconverted by Renee Holmes.

34min: AUS 17-7 NZL

New Zealand is back in it. They're on the attack and putting some phases together. But Australia's Liz Patu steals the ball.

31min: AUS 17-7 NZL

NZL TRY!

The Black Ferns have come out of the Terita try with motivation and energy to turn things around. Off the restart Stacey Fluhler makes a great push forward.

Joanah Ngan-Woo scores the first try for the Kiwis and Kendra Cocksedge gets it over for the seven points.

27min: AUS 17-0 NZL

AUS TRY!

Teria scores another one. Despite the Black Ferns doing everything to stop her she powers over the line. McKenzie misses the conversion kick.

Aussie fans will be thrilled with this one. Plus the classic John Farnham track 'You're the voice' is playing. Just not going the way of the Black Ferns at the moment.

26min: AUS 12-0 NZL

Australia reset and they earn another penalty advantage as the Black Ferns are called up for being offside. New Zealand are being challenged physically as Australia are 5m from the try line.

24min: AUS 12-0 NZL

Both teams get a breather after a gritty start to this match. Connor throws the ball into the lineout and the Kiwis try to create something, but Australia win the ball following a penalty on Phillipa Love in the ruck.

22min: AUS 12-0 NZL

The Black Ferns lose the ball as they try to get their momentum going. We head to a scrum for Australia. Once again they are playing with speed but Tui comes in to steal the ball.

20min: AUS 12-0 NZL

Australia continues to dominate territory. We go to a lineout and Australia chip away putting pressure on the Kiwi defence. They go out wide to Wong who clashes with Tui. The Black Ferns win the ball back and Demant kicks it out into touch. After 20 minutes, New Zealand has made a whopping 64 tackles.

16min: AUS 12-0 NZL

AUS TRY!

Amy Du Plessis uses her speed to get the crowd roaring after a slow start for the Black Ferns. But the Wallaroos' Ivania Wong steals the ball and races down field. The Black Ferns couldn't catch up with her as Wong runs away with the second try.

McKenzie is successful this time with the boot.

13min: AUS 5-0 NZL

AUS TRY!

Following a penalty, McKenzie goes with a quick tap and Australia goes out wide to Terita who storms through the Black Ferns defence to score the first try. McKenzie misses the conversion.

12min: AUS 0-0 NZL

The Black Ferns are scrambling, doing everything to stop Australia from scoring. We go to a goal line drop out and Australia collect the ball advancing forward as they dominate possession.

8min: AUS 0-0 NZL

A no arms tackle penalty is called on the Black Ferns and Australia gets a penalty. They are approaching the try line but their run is halted with some tenacious defence from Stacey Fluhler.

6min: AUS 0-0 NZL

Australia are doing a great job defensively. After losing the ball off the scrum, they win the ball back with a powerful tackle from Bienne Terita.

4min: AUS 0-0 NZL

Ruby Tui gets and runs through an Australian wall. The Black Ferns slowly chip away but we're off to a scrum for Australia.

2min: AUS 0-0 NZL

We're off to a scrum as Australia's Iliseva Batibasaga feeds the ball through. Australia are on the attack, they've got power and are going fast currently 20m out from the line.

But Luka Connor comes in and steals the ball. We go to a lineout.

KICKOFF!

Australia's Arabella McKenzie get's us underway as Sarah Hirni brings the ball down.

7:15pm

It's an incredible atmosphere, music playing and fans cheering as the Black Ferns line up to perform the haka. Captain Ruahei Demant and Portia Woodman leading from the front. Australia are forming an arrow in response.

Wow that was special! We're almost underway.

7:10pm

The teams are walking out onto the field for the respective national anthems. You can hear the crowd joining in.

6:55pm

We're not too far away from the action! The crowd is building.

UK pop star Rita Ora is performing on the field as we build up to the match. She'll be back on the big stage to perform again at halftime.

Match Preview:

6:45pm

The stage is set for a record-breaking Women’s Rugby World Cup. In front of a sold out crowd of 47,000 fans, the Black Ferns prepare to face Australia in their first match of the tournament.

It’s the first women’s sports event to be sold out at Eden Park and will also be the largest ever attendance at a women’s sports event in Aotearoa.

New Zealand come in as reigning champions, aiming for their sixth world title. Australia has never won a World Cup with their best placing being third in 2010.

Australia are also aiming to make history in this match as they have never defeated the Black Ferns before.

Ahead of the game Black Ferns head coach Wayne Smith said he wants his team to dominate offensively.

“I’ve talked a lot about wanting to reflect the DNA of our country; we always play attacking rugby,” Smith said. “That’s what I want us to show on the field and if we do, it’ll be exciting.”

This will be the third time the Black Ferns play Australia at a Rugby World Cup. The first time was in 2002 when New Zealand won 36-3 and the second match in 2010 when they also won 32-5.

Its expected to be an electric atmosphere with the crowd building for this trans-Tasman clash.

Squads:

Black Ferns: 1. Phillipa Love, 2. Luka Connor, 3. Amy Rule, 4. Joanah Ngan-Woo, 5. Chelsea Bremner, 6. Charmaine McMenamin, 7. Sarah Hirini, 8. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, 9. Kendra Cocksedge, 10. Ruahei Demant (Captain), 11. Portia Woodman, 12. Amy du Plessis, 13. Stacey Fluhler, 14. Ruby Tui, 15. Renee Holmes.

Reserves: 16. Georgia Ponsonby, 17. Awhina Tangen-Wainohu, 18. Santo Taumata, 19. Maiakawanakaulani Roos, 20. Kendra Reynolds, 21. Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu, 22. Hazel Tubic, 23. Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu Atai’i Sylvia Brunt.

Australia: 1. Liz Patu, 2. Adiana Talakai, 3. Bridie O’Gorman, 4. Sera Naiqama, 5. Atasi Lafai, 6. Emily Chancellor, 7. Shannon Parry (Captain), 8. Grace Hamilton, 9. Iliseva Batibasaga, 10. Arabella McKenzie, 11. Ivania Wong, 12. Sharni Williams, 13. Georgina Friedrichs, 14, Bienne Terita, 15. Pauline Piliae-Rasabale.

Reserves: 16. Ashley Marsters, 17. Emily Robinson, 18. Eva Karpani, 19. Michaela Leonard, 20. Grace Kemp, 21. Layne Morgan, 22. Trilleen Pomare, 23. Lori Cramer.

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