WRU WORLD CUP

Wales’ women had no answer to the power and pace of hosts New Zealand as their Rugby World Cup run came to an end in a 55-3 quarter-final defeat.

Portia Woodman scored her 19th and 20th World Cup tries to overtake England’s Sue Day as the all-time leading try scorer.

Woodman got New Zealand’s first 13 minutes in before Ruby Tui, Sarah Hirini and Amy Rule powered the Black Ferns into a 26-3 half-time lead.

And it got no better for Wales after the break, with Woodman’s second coming three minutes into the second half, and the defending champions pulled further clear as Luka Connor scored twice, Alana Bremner crossed and Ruahei Demant finished things off.

In the semi-finals, New Zealand will face France, who produced a dominant second-half performance to blow Italy away 39-3. It was fairly even at half-time, with the French up 10-3 before they burst clear after the break.

They enjoyed 74% of territory and 61% of possession in the match, which allowed them to score four second-half tries to go with one before the break.

Three of those went to winger Joanna Grisez, including her final score in the 70th minute which came after a typical team effort to create an enormous overlap.