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The England women’s rugby union team extended their winning streak to 17 Tests on Saturday by beating world champions New Zealand 24-12 in an entertaining brawl at Twickenham.
It was England’s second successive victory over the Kiwis, having beaten them in New Zealand last year and a timely warning that they are in the mood for revenge at the World Cup. next year.
The visitors are the latest team to beat world number one England in the 2022 World Cup final, the fifth time the English side have lost in the final of the quadrennial competition to the Black Ferns.
Any notion that the match had been seen as a soft contest was dismissed by England’s player of the match Alex Matthews.
“There is never a friendly match in test rugby. We don’t do a friendly match,” she told the BBC.
“These are warm-ups, but we started something last year and we want to build for the World Cup next year.”
It was England who shone from the kick-off, in front of more than 40,000 noisy and lively spectators.
It was a fitting audience for Emily Scarratt, 2019 World Player of the Year and 2014 World Cup winner, who became the third player to make her 100th start for the hosts.
England tested their opponents, looking for weaknesses and broke the deadlock in the 18th minute when captain Marlie Packer grounded the ball after a rolling maul sent her over the line.
Holly Aitchison missed the conversion.
Abby Dow then Ellie Kildunne added two quick tries on the half hour mark and 36th minute respectively – Aitchison converting the latter for a 17-0 lead.
The try was deserved for Dow as she was very present in attack, regularly gaining the upper hand on her opposing wing Katelyn Vahaakolo.
It was a dejected New Zealand team that returned to the locker room for halftime with a score of 17-0.
Their morale was further tested as two minutes into the second half, scrumhalf Natasha Hunt looked to have put the game on top of them when she went over.
Aitchison converted for 24-0.
Vahaakolo had a tough time in defense, but in attack she was dynamic and got New Zealand on the scoreboard in the 50th minute.
At the hour mark, it was a case of déjà vu as Vahaakolo scored his second try and gave them a glimmer of hope of a remarkable comeback.
Renee Holmes converted for 24-12 and it was on to the final quarter.
However, despite both teams’ best efforts, neither team was able to improve the score, but they were warmly applauded off the field for an entertaining match by the crowd.
Both teams could well be back at Twickenham on September 27 next year for the World Cup final.
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