Pool play has come to a close and we are finally down to the business end of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
England had a slight wobble for the first time this tournament in the first half against Australia, before eventually pulling away in their 47-7 win in Brighton.
Despite the defeat, Australia still qualified for the knockout stages, with the United States’ 60-0 win over Samoa not enough to see the Wallaroos through.
Elsewhere, Canada showed their class with a huge win over Scotland, while New Zealand were emphatic against Ireland with a 40-0 shutout.
Biggest question: Who will stop England?
For 20 minutes, Australia showed the rest of the Women’s Rugby World Cup a gameplan of how to halt the Red Roses. They kicked from their own half, played for 50:22s, disrupted the set piece and carried with wonderful intensity once they reached England’s 22.
Australia scored first, and for the opening quarter of the match, England were outplayed.
Eventually they regrouped and came through with a 47-7 victory, but it wasn’t the procession some predicted. Instead, Australia pushed and pulled the Red Roses in ways no other side has managed to do in this tournament.
There were echoes of their first half against Ireland in the Six Nations, and there were times where they drifted much like the France match. For anyone looking for signs of how to beat England in this tournament, Australia may have offered a blueprint.
While England’s attack misfired at times and uncharacteristic errors crept in, what will offer them optimism was the strength of their defensive organisation as they managed to hold out Australia, keeping them to a single try.
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“We know defence is doing win championships and it’s going to win games for us,” centre Megan Jones said.
“We have got full strength and belief in the fact that our defence is solid. We trust it massively. Kicking the ball away, we are happy to do that. We are happy to show we have a defensive set and be comfortable without the ball.”
The Red Roses are still overwhelming favourites to win this competition. But over the course of the next three weekends, they will be tested and their defence will be stretched to its limits.
Of the chasing pack, two teams have emerged as genuine challengers to the Red Roses. Canada were outstanding against Scotland, winning 40-19. Whenever they were under pressure, they found a way to counter, and land punches of their own.
Their speed and power is so tough to halt, and like the Black Ferns, they can shift the point of attack without a second thought. But still Canada are demanding more. “Nothing was perfect, but happy with the win,” Canada’s head coach Kévin Rouet said afterwards.
“We were too nice with them, we let them play multiple phases of rugby.”
On Sunday we saw the full power and might of the Black Ferns as they brushed Ireland aside, winning 40-0. Their defence held firm in the opening exchanges with Ireland, and then they wrestled the match back in their favour with Sylvia Brunt magnificent at inside centre, and Jorja Miller omnipresent.
But it was the speed at which they can shift attack which should concern the other teams. In the blink of an eye, they went from punching their way through the middle of Ireland, to spreading it wide and attacking with pace and vim down the flanks through the great Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Braxton Sorensen-McGee.
It was like watching a rugby typhoon wreaking havoc in Brighton. It’s just so tricky to stop.
Ireland did throw everything at them, but New Zealand found a way to soak up all the pressure and then throw it back with added ferocity.
As they scored a wonderful end-to-end score in the final play of the game to make it six tries overall, this was the Kiwis putting down a marker.
England are favourites to be standing on the Twickenham pitch, holding the trophy come Sept. 27, but Canada and New Zealand will not go quietly.
Ilona Maher watch:
Unfortunately for the United States, and the tournament as a whole, Ilona Maher’s campaign is over. The U.S. brushed past Samoa 60-0 in York, but the points weren’t enough as Australia advanced from Pool A alongside England.
Maher made a massive impact on the tournament, and showed she’s more than up to the standard of international XVs, having already won Olympic bronze with the sevens programme.
Her next move is unclear, but wherever she goes, fans will follow.
Highlight to watch
Samoa sign off in style:
Other stories to know:
Welsh woes continue:
Wales came into the Women’s Rugby World Cup with Sean Lynn’s stinging assessment of their dismal Six Nations still ringing in their ears, but despite showing cautious optimism over their prospects in this tournament, they underperformed.
A return of three defeats from three is dismal, and at a time where Welsh rugby is firmly under the cosh, this did little to alleviate the all-engulfing sense of doom around the sport.
The postmortem will be brutal. WRU head of women’s rugby Belinda Moore’s assessment that “you definitely can’t say they’ve failed” is misjudged at best.
Sean Lynn is a wonderful coach, but there is a disconnect.
The players are talented but lack leadership, while several of their players simply aren’t getting enough rugby in the PWR. While they focused on their fitness before the tournament, they lacked match time and were out-manoeuvred in all three of their matches.
The Scotland defeat was poor, the Canada match showed some green shoots of optimism and the Fiji match saw them go toe-to-toe but ultimately fall short.
For Welsh women’s rugby, this has to be the nadir. But there’s enough character in the group to hold hope they will turn things around and they finished the Canada game with four 18-year-olds in the team so there’s potential there.
“We are in a real tough place but I believe in Lynny [head coach Sean Lynn], I believe in the team that we’ve got, I believe in our staff, that we can turn this around,” co-captain Alex Callender said.
“Those three games didn’t showcase what we are all about. I am just gutted. I want to apologise to the fans.”
Not quite a Brighton miracle, but Wallaroos scrape through:
Australia may have lost the battle to England 47-7 in their final Pool A clash, but they won the war as they secured their place in quarterfinals.
Despite the hiding from England, there were still plenty of reasons to smile, with the side able to celebrate coach Jo Yapp’s birthday with qualification to the knockout stages, while a quick visit from Her Royal Highness Catherine, Princess of Wales to their changing room post-match left the players glowing.
It’s not exactly job done for the Wallaroos, though, despite the team deeming a quarterfinals berth as a successful tournament, as Pac4 rivals Canada loom on the horizon.
History is certainly not on Australia’s side with Canada claiming victory in all seven match ups since their first in 2014.
The Wallaroos will take confidence from their opening 30 minutes against England where they opened the scoring before they withstood a clunky England side through several patches, but they’re going to have to take their game to a whole new level if they’re to earn their place in the semifinal.
Perhaps meeting Princess Catherine will see the Wallaroos’ own fairytale story?
