Winning streak extends to 16 but rusty
Black Ferns coach Glenn Moore sets high standards for his world champions, so it was no surprise to hear him demanding improvement in the wake of a five tries to one victory over the Wallaroos in Sydney.
The New Zealand women continued their domination of Australia with a 31-11 victory in the first half of their historic ‘‘Bledisloe’’ double-header for the Laurie O’Reilly Memorial Trophy at ANZ Stadium. They are now 16-0 all time against their transTasman rivals.
It was a performance that Moore admitted was ‘‘rusty’’, with the Ferns reliant on the close-in stuff to seal the deal against a scrappy and resilient Australian side.
Skipper Fiao’o Faamausili notched a hat-trick of tries from the lineout-drive route, tighthead prop Aldora Itunu powered over for another in close and veteran halfback Kendra Cocksedge completed the Kiwi scoring with a well-taken strike.
‘‘We need to be better next week,’’ said Moore of the Eden Park rematch in seven days. ‘‘We were a little rusty at the start and tried to force some things that weren’t quite there. We flicked some 50-50 offloads when we would have been better to carry.
‘‘Once we started carrying, particularly off 10 in the middle when they were rushing out, we looked a lot better. I’m confident we’ll get polish this week. We needed that game, so we’ll progress.’’
Skipper Faamausili, who had lost her voice when she turned up to the ground, conceded that they had met their own high standards only ‘‘in patches’’.