LONDON, Sept 14 (Askume) – England produced a dominant first half to beat world champions New Zealand 24-12 in a women’s international at Twickenham on Saturday, extending their unbeaten streak to 17 wins and five games against the Black Ferns.
England have not lost a match since a heartbreaking 34-31 defeat to New Zealand in the last World Cup final in November 2022 and with this win they have sealed a place at next year’s global finals.
Head coach John Mitchell’s side raced out to a 24-0 lead through shots from captain Mary Parker, winger Abby Dow, defender Ellie Kilden and right back Natasha Hunter, but the visitors launched a counter-attack in the final half hour.
Winger Kaitlin Vahakolo crossed twice to energise the Black Ferns but England did not play the rest of the game in front of 41,523 fans in London.
“Test rugby is never friendly. We want to continue our preparations for next year’s World Cup and focus on our performances,” England forward Alex Matthews told the BBC.
“We have a great leadership team, the communication is great and we have a clear vision of what we want to do. We are motivated, but we will keep working hard and see how far we can go.”
The home side took the lead midway through the first half and after being denied a playable penalty set up an attacking lineout, with Parker firing home a missed shot.
Dow scored the second goal when he passed the ball to opponent’s Vahakolo and then Kilduane scored the third before half time and the home side were ahead 17–0 at half time.
England started the second quarter well when Hunt crossed the try line under the posts, before New Zealand scored twice through Vahakolo.
The two teams will meet again on October 6 at the WXV 1 Championship in Canada.
