The Black Ferns have all but sealed the top seed for the quarterfinals of this year’s Rugby World Cup with a ruthless dismantling of Scotland in Whangārei this afternoon to end pool play.
It became apparent when the hosts had piled on four tries not even a quarter of the way through the Test that it was going to be a long afternoon for Scotland as they spent the opening 20 minutes constantly on the back foot while the Black Ferns refused to give the ball away.
Instead, the match became more about two important factors for the Black Ferns; how big could they make their points differential cushion for quarterfinals seeding and how composed could they be doing it.
The first point is crucial as the top seed will more than likely be placed on the other side of the bracket from tournament favourites England while the second goal is equally crucial given the questions that have been raised of Wayne Smith’s side so far this tournament – particularly around the forward pack and its scrums and lineouts.
The 57-0 win saw the first box well and truly ticked with Canada the only team capable of usurping the Black Ferns for the spot at this point but now needing to beat the USA by 79 points tomorrow to do so.
The second objective is harder to grade as it always is in a blowout win.
The Black Ferns were relentless on offence, even opting to run from their own five-metre line instead of kicking the ball away to hand over possession at multiple points in the game.
In fact, to put it in perspective just how dominant the Black Ferns were out of the gate; by halftime they had carried the ball for 633 metres while Scotland, forced to make 133 tackles in the opening 40, managed just 27 metres of their own.
But with so much possession comes more opportunities for handling errors and sure enough, even on the dry pitch in Whangārei, the ball went to ground more often than coach Wayne Smith will probably like and discipline became an issue once more in the second half.
The handling issues were partly due to an area of the game Smith will be happy with though – his team’s confidence to throw the ball around to get their highly-skilled players in space.
Hazel Tubic contributed to that with an impressive outing in the No.10 jersey on her home ground, marshalling the troops and finding targets to run on to the ball.
One of them was Ayesha Liti-I’iga in her return from injury, taking just 10 minutes to find the line again to continue her impressive strike rate of late, showing her time on the sidelines hadn’t deterred her from her powerful running game.
Tries to Renee Holmes, Sarah Hirini, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Theresa Fitzpatrick and Renee Wickliffe as well before the break saw the Black Ferns holding a 45-0 lead and it only continued to balloon when the two sides returned.
Smith wasted no time heading to his bench for impact with the entire front row – including Whangārei local and haka leader for the day Krystal Murray – along with veteran halfback Kendra Cocksedge brought on just five minutes into the second half.
Leti-I’iga also finished her night early on in the second half [perhaps a protective move from Smith looking ahead to the quarterfinals] as Scotland managed to slow the frantic pace of the match down after an early Maia Roos try.
Unfortunately, aside from a brief moment inside the Black Ferns’ 22 to start the second half, handling errors and a tight Kiwi line didn’t give them much to work with.
The Black Ferns were certainly giving them chances though as discipline again became an issue; seven penalties coughed up in the second half alone after giving up just one in the first half, leading to New Zealand’s third yellow card of the tournament to date with replacement prop Tanya Kalounivale sent off for knocking the ball down in the 65th minute.
Even that wasn’t enough to change the script though with Holmes instead going over for her second try four minutes later.
With the side back to 15 for the final minutes of the game, Scotland tried one last dash to wipe the goose egg from the scoreboard but instead it was turned over and the Black Ferns kicked the ball into touch to seal the shutout.
The Black Ferns now await the final four pool games to see how the quarterfinals shape up but if their pool play is anything to go by, they're certainly ready for the next stage.
New Zealand 57 [Renee Holmes, Ayesha Leti-I’iga, Sarah Hirini, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Theresa Fitzpatrick, Renee Wickliffe, Maia Roos tries; Renee Holmes 6 con]
Scotland 0
HT: 45-0
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