New Zealand have lost their grip on the Pacific Championship women’s title, bowing 24-4 to world champions Australian in their Sydney final.
The Kiwi Ferns had little answer to the Jillaroos, conceding five unanswered tries, until they managed to crack the defence in the last two minutes of the contest.
Australia entered the contest with a clean sheet during this year’s competition, keeping their NZ and Papua New Guinea rivals scoreless during poolplay, and for most of the title game.
They were the first to score, as they gained an edge in the territory battle, gradually forcing their rivals back into the redzone and putting winger Julia Robinson over unopposed in the corner.
Their second try came from two penalties and a handling error from Ferns forward Annessa Biddle inside the Australian half. The Jillaroos simply rolled upfield and centre Isabelle Kelly fended off an attempted tackle from Abigail Roache to score.
Front-rower Amber Hall spilled the ball in a tackle 40 metres out from her own line. Australia had three sets to score again and were twice held up on the line, before their attack ended with a dropped pass.
Weathering that storm seemed to give the Kiwi Ferns a new lease on life, as they ventured deep into the Aussie redzone on their next three possessions, without managing to crack the defence.
Instead, veteran half Ali Brigginshaw converted a 40-20 kick to get her team out of trouble and back on attack. From the resulting set, centre Tiana Penitani powered across, despite the tackle attempts of Mele Hufanga and Gayle Broughton.
Australia reached halftime with a 12-0 advantage and they wasted little time adding to that dominance after the restart, when fullback Tamika Upton kicked ahead and beat winger Shanice Parker to the bounce to score.
Halfback Tarryn Aiken added another soon after and the rout was on.
The Kiwi Ferns had their best chance to score, when they created a three-on-two overlap on the left flank, but centre Abigail Roache elected to cut infield and the threat was nullified.
Hufunga threatened to break the drought, when she intercepted a pass near her own goal-line, but was run down about 30 metres out.
With fulltime looming, the NZ women finally had something to show for their efforts, when Hufunga, who looked a little gimpy after her length-of-the-field gallop, provided the final pass for winger Leianne Tufuga to find the corner.
"Tough day for us," said Kiwi Ferns coach Ricky Henry. "Towards the back of the game, we sort of figured things out, but we'd dug ourselves a bit of a hole."
Australia 24 (Robinson, Kelly, Penitani, Upton, Aiken tries; Aiken 2 conversions) NZ 4 (Tufuga try)
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