It was a spectacular finish to a event that has damaged data for attendances and got here after England performed three-quarters of the sport with 14 gamers.
New Zealand vs All Blacks at Rugby World Cup last in November 2022. Picture: Twitter/@BlackFerns.
AUCKLAND – New Zealand’s operating sport trumped England’s energy to win an exhilarating last of the women’s Rugby World Cup 34-31 in Auckland on Saturday and retain their title in entrance of a file 40,000 crowd.
It was a spectacular finish to a event that has damaged data for attendances and got here after England performed three-quarters of the sport with 14 gamers.
Winger Ayesha Leti-I’iga put the Black Ferns forward with their sixth attempt they usually held at Eden Park to halt England’s world-record successful streak at 30 matches. It was the hosts’ sixth World Cup title.
England’s winger Lydia Thompson was proven a crimson card for a head-high deal with however they nonetheless practically pulled off victory thanks to the ferocity of their ahead play.
Four of England’s 5 tries got here from lineout drives, together with a hat-trick to hooker Amy Cokayne, they usually have been handed an opportunity to snatch victory within the dying minutes.
However, two lineout drives have been repelled by the house crew on their tryline and when England knocked-on, the 40,000 crowd — a file for a women’s rugby match — erupted in noise.
It accomplished a metamorphosis for New Zealand beneath veteran former All Blacks coach Wayne Smith, who was launched this 12 months after the Black Ferns have been thrashed twice by England a 12 months in the past regardless of being reigning world champions.
Smith had steered the Black Ferns to 11 straight wins however his crew have been nonetheless underdogs towards a Red Roses aspect he labelled the most effective groups within the historical past of males’s or women’s rugby.
His crew stayed true to the breathless, attacking fashion they’d used with success all event and it finally triumphed over England’s environment friendly, power-based sport.
New Zealand captain Ruahei Demant stated her crew’s turnaround in fortunes was one the nation ought to savour.
“It’s been really challenging. Last year we went on a northern tour and we got pumped,” Demant stated.
“The way that the players have turned themselves around, there’s a lot that’s unseen. We’ve sacrificed so much to get one chance in a lifetime to win a World Cup at home, and we did it.”
ENGLAND LOSE CONTROL
England took early management by tries to fullback Ellie Kildunne and Cokayne earlier than the sport burst into life when Thompson was despatched off for her Nineteenth-minute deal with on Portia Woodman, which left the star Black Ferns winger unable to proceed.
New Zealand’s fast response was a attempt to hooker Georgia Ponsonby which set off a tit-for-tat scoring sample for the rest of an electrical first half.
Flanker Marlie Packer and Cokayne each scored from English lineout drives whereas New Zealand responded each occasions, by Woodman’s alternative, Leti-I’iga and prop Amy Rule.
The hosts hit the entrance by tries quickly after the interval to centre Stacey Fluhler and prop Krystal Murray.
However, momentum swung again to England when Cokayne bagged her third try to New Zealand misplaced momentum within the sixty fifth minute when alternative ahead Kennedy Simon was proven a yellow card for a excessive deal with.
Still a participant down, New Zealand rolled the cube by launching an audacious broad assault and paid off as Leti-I’iga scored her second attempt, by way of an offload from centre Fluhler.
Earlier, France hammered Canada 36-0 within the playoff for third place.
France scored 5 tries in a dominant show to safe the bronze medal for a outstanding seventh time, having by no means certified for the ultimate.