Black Ferns outclassed by Australia in final

Winning Commonwealth Games gold just got tougher for the Black Ferns.

Judging by yesterday’s embarrassing 31-0 flogging at the hands of Australia in the Sydney sevens final, the Kiwi women have a long way to go to close the gap on Australia.

In hammering New Zealand and winning their home tournament, the Olympic champions became the first team in women’s sevens history to go through a tournament without conceding a single point.

Just how they blanketed the Black Ferns and their try-scoring machines Portia Woodman and Michaela Blyde will give New Zealand coach Allan Bunting, who indicated last week the Sydney tournament was about preparing for April’s Commonwealth Games, plenty to think about over the next couple of months.

New Zealand had won the last five fixtures between the teams since Australia won gold in Rio in 2016, but didn’t play them in the first leg of the 2017/18 World Circuit – in Dubai last month – as the Kiwis finished fifth.

Australia has won both tournaments and holds a 10-point lead over New Zealand, Canada and Russia, who are all tied for second with 30 points.

Like the Australian men did in their quarterfinal win against New Zealand earlier yesterday, the women hosts used their swarming defence to pin the Black Ferns deep in their own half and waited for them to make mistakes.

The first mistake, a penalty for not releasing, didn’t take long – less than 90 seconds – and resulted in Shannon Parry crossing out wide.

Not surprisingly, New Zealand attempted to fling the ball wide to star wingers Portia Woodman and Michaela Blyde, who combined for 21 tries (Woodman 13 and Blyde 8) in their first five games in Sydney.

But Australia shadowed them out of the game and, as a result, New Zealand looked lost for ideas in front of a rowdy Sydney crowd.

Charlotte Caslick scored after the halftime hooter to give Australia a 10-0 lead and, to add injury to insult, New Zealand lost Tyla Nathan-wong to the bin for a deliberate knock-down in the lead up to the try.

Australia wasted little time cashing in on the numerical advantage in the second half, as Ellia Green broke through to score from range to open up a daunting 17-0 lead.

It only got uglier for New Zealand when Evania Pelite and Emma Sykes touched down to complete the embarrassment.