Black Ferns secure top seed for Women’s Rugby WC quarters
NEW ZEALAND, Oct 22, (AP): Hosts New Zealand secured top seeding for the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinals with an emphatic bonus-point, 57-0 win over Scotland.
The Black Ferns already had sealed a quarterfinal spot with earlier group wins over Australia and Wales and made themselves the top-ranked team in the playoffs with Saturday’s win by nine tries to none.
Lori Cramer’s penalties on the tick of halftime and just before fulltime were enough for Australia to beat Wales 13-7 in the earlier game and advance to the quarterfinals. France beat Fiji 44-0 in the last round of group matches later Saturday to eliminate the Pacific island country from the playoffs.
New Zealand had its first try in less than two minutes and added three more to lead 24-0 after only 18.. Veteran winger Renee Wickliffe, playing at her fourth World Cup, had a double before halftime including a brilliant solo try in which she swerved around the Scotland fullback.
Australia 13, Wales 7
Australia and Wales scored a try apiece in the first half and Cramer made the difference by converting a breakdown penalty secured by Shannon Parry. The second half was scoreless until the 78th minute when Cramer clinched the game with a kick from close range.
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Australia, playing with boldness, had earlier passed up several chances to kick penalties in an effort to secure tries. Though they spent almost 10 minutes inside Wales’ 22 during the match they were unable to add to their early try.
Scrumhalf Iliseva Batibasaga scored in the 5tth minute after a serious defensive misread by Wales. Australia had an attacking scrum, conveyed the ball into midfield and had a series of pick and goes under the posts which were repelled by Wales.
Batibasaga decided to look for a chance wider out but when she picked up the ball and turned away from the ruck she found the Wales defense had already drifted out, leaving a huge gap inside. With only tight forwards to beat, she dashed in under the posts.
Sioned Harries scored for Wales in the 23rd minute to level the match. The Wales pack has been impressive in all three of its group matches - its scrum strong and its lineout reliable.
The second half was full of action though it didn’t produce more scoring. There was a litany of errors from both sides. Australia couldn’t hang onto the ball long enough to create another try and Wales went away from its reliance on its forward pack and also was drawn into an inconclusive contest in the open field.
France 44, Fiji 0
France recovered well from its bruising loss to England a week ago to coast into the quarterfinals with its win over Fiji. The result meant crowd favorite Fiji exited the tournament.
France scored seven tries in total, showing it can play a lively style after last weekend’s grim, physical clash with England which England won 13-7. That left France needing to win on Saturday to be sure of progressing to the knockout round and they did so emphatically with seven tries and a bonus point.
France had only a small surplus of possession, 51 percent to Fiji’s 49 percent, but used the ball with precision. Fiji, in contrast, paid heavily for missed tackles and turnovers.
France took the lead early Saturday with a try to Marine Menager from a lineout. When the subsequent maul stalled Pauline Bourdon moved the ball wide to winger Jessy Tremouliere and Menager took a return pass to score.
Tremouliere added a penalty soon after for an 8-0 lead.