As a result of the Kiwi Ferns’ victory over England in the second semi-final on Monday night, New Zealand will play Australia in the final of the Women’s Rugby League World Cup for the fourth tournament in a row. The match will take place in Australia.
Mele Hufanga, Raecene McGregor, Otesa Pule, and Brianna Clark each scored a try to push Ricky Henry’s team ahead of the home team. The visitors overcame an early deficit of six points to set a monumental platform with their massive metre-makers through the middle.
Another semi-final loss for England, this time to the same Black Ferns as in 2013 and 2017, and it comes just two days after the England men’s team lost their match against Samoa in golden-point extra-time.
The opening exchanges provided some evidence that they might be able to follow the wheelchair side’s example and advance to the final on the following Saturday.
also read: Australia vs. New Zealand women’s Rugby League World Cup final: When, how to watch, squads, odds
Due to the fact that Apii Nicholls was unable to deal with Georgia Roche’s kick from deep, England was able to set up an attack from a scrum inside of New Zealand’s territory. And when they went on a set move to the right, they found Fran Goldthorp in acres of space to run in for the first try of the game, which gave them the lead in the match.
Mele Hufanga was able to make the play pay off for the Kiwi Ferns when she took Amber Hall’s pass and crashed over the goal line after the game had settled into a pattern. The Kiwi Ferns were making serious yardage with the ball in hand as the game settled into a pattern. Raecene McGregor scored another unconverted try for New Zealand shortly after Brianna Clark’s attempt at a kick was unsuccessful. Despite this, New Zealand were soon in the lead.
Otesa Pule made the most of broken space after Hufanga’s initial run and a fantastic pass out of the tackle by Nicholls to give the three-time World Cup winners a two-score advantage seven minutes into the second half of the match.
And when England failed to capitalize on the Kiwi Ferns allowing the ball to run out of play from the resulting kick-off, New Zealand set up an 80-meter set that resulted in Brianna Clark breaking through a space between two defenders to score under the sticks.
With each missed opportunity by Craig Richards’ team, the likelihood of a comeback became more and more remote. New Zealand’s resolute defense – which had only conceded three tries and a total of 14 points in Group B – once again proved difficult to penetrate.
The final whistle brought scenes of jubilation for the Ferns, who will now travel to Old Trafford to take on Australia in the women’s final on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. local time. After that game, the men’s championship between Australia and Samoa, who are both making their first appearance in the finals, will begin at 4 p.m.
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