The Black Ferns have secured their spot in the WXV1 tournament later this year on home soil with a big win over Canada and once again it was their midfield leading the way.
After Sylvia Brunt's breakout performance last week, her midfield partner in Amy du Plessis came to the party in Ottawa this morning to help the Black Ferns to a 52-21 win.
Du Plessis was a standout from start to finish, causing havoc whenever she had the ball in hand and shutting down some of Canada's powerhouse runners when she didn't.
Mix that in with a just-as-physical Brunt inside her and suddenly, the Black Ferns have found a combo that may just be world beaters.
Of course, the two got to shine thanks to another superb performance from their co-captain and playmaker Ruahei Demant at No.10 this morning but when the ball landed in their laps - and thanks to coach Allan Bunting continuing the attacking-style of rugby Wayne Smith introduced last year - they made the most of every opportunity regardless of where they were on the paddock.
In the end, that resulted in two tries for du Plessis today after Brunt's brace against the Wallabies last week.
On to top of that, she was prominent in three of the Black Ferns' other tries today and, rightfully, earned player of the match honours.
And what a match it was.
Despite the scoreline, Canada put up a strong challenge to the world champions, at one point only trailing 28-21 midway through the second half.
That one-try deficit was even more impressive given the fact the Black Ferns had initially jumped out to a 21-0 lead against their hosts, who were kicking away the ball and giving du Plessis, Brunt and company ample opportunities to break the game wide open.
But after Luka Connor, Demant and Mererangi Paul all scored, Canada changed their tact and started keeping the ball in hand, turning the game quickly into a physical contest that at times was exhausting just to watch.
Such frantic pace led to some ill discipline from the Black Ferns and with it Canada started their comeback scoring twice in the final six minutes of the half to be down just 21-14 at the break.
The Black Ferns reclaimed control to start the second half with du Plessis' first try but then when Canada struck back - after stealing the ball from a New Zealand scrum of all things - there was a sense this game could become a slugfest between two sides very happy to keep the ball in hand and just run at their opposition.
The only problem with that? Canada decided to do it 30 minutes into this Test while the Black Ferns have been doing it for over a year.
And it showed.
Errors started to creep into the Canadian attack and that gave the Black Ferns platforms to work off - a lineout led to Renee Holmes getting an entry on the scoresheet and soon after, a scrum allowed du Plessis to nab her second.
A late yellow card to Canadian captain Sophie de Goede signalled the true end of any hopes of a comeback and, for good measure, the Black Ferns scored off that too with Kelsey Teneti bringing up 50 for her side.
It means the Black Ferns head into their final Pacific Four Series game with the maximum points on offer won so far and their final opposition is the US - who sit last in the series after copping a 58-17 whalloping from the Wallaroos earlier today.
With that in mind, Bunting may use next Saturday's match to get some other members of his squad into the lineup after running a practical identical 23 for the first two games of his tenure.
If he does though, he'll do so knowing one thing for certain - he has one hell of a midfield combo to fall back on.
Black Ferns 52 (Mererangi Paul 2, Amy du Plessis 2, Chelsea Bremner, Ruahei Demant, Renee Holmes, Kelsey Teneti tries; Renee Holmes 6 con)
Canada 21 (Sophie De Goede, Fabiola Forteza, Olivia DeMerchant tries; De Goede 3 con)
HT: 21-14
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