Rugby World Cup: Wales 12-56 New Zealand

Wales were humbled by hosts New Zealand in front of a sell-out crowd in the Waitakere sunshine.

Portia Woodman extended her tournament tally to five, with Sylvia Brunt also crossing twice.

Ffion Lewis and Sioned Harries scored in either half for Wales, who slip to third behind Australia in Pool A on points difference.

Despite the result, Wales are still in a good position to secure their place in the knockout stages.

The top two teams in each of the three pools are guaranteed progression, along with the two best third places.

Bright start by Wales

Wales started well, like they did against Scotland, and enjoyed all the early possession.

They asserted their scrum dominance from the outset, much to the delight of the 100 plus travelling supporters.

Gwen Crabb carried well in her first outing of the tournament and Wales, not that they needed it, were given an early reminder of the threat of New Zealand full-back Ruby Tui who halted a promising attack with a well-timed interception.

Wales tackled ferociously as the hosts grew into the game, and they successfully held up their first attempt at the try-line.

As their defence continued to be tested, Wales coughed up a penalty which the captain and player of the match Ruahei Demant kicked to touch.

Wales repelled the initial onslaught but could not prevent Chelsea Bremner from crossing as the game approached its first quarter.

Black Ferns were back on the attack from the restart, Demant broke the line before the ball found its way out to last week’s hat-trick hero Woodman.

Two tries soon became three as the Black Ferns grew in confidence, Woodman carved her way through the defence before offloading to Alana Bremner who gave a cheeky out the back door pass for Brunt to score.

Woodman bagged her second moments later, Wales giving the world class winger far too much space as she shrugged off the tackles of Jasmine Joyce and Kayleigh Powell.

Demant was successful with the conversion having missed the previous three attempts.

Wales settled back into the game, but their trademark five metre driving lineout was dropped, gifting possession back to the Black Ferns.

Wales, to their credit, regathered the ball after again destroying the Black Ferns scrum, Sioned Harries was just short of the line after picking up from number eight.

Wales continued to bully up front and celebrated a deserved try on the stroke of half-time, scrum-half Lewis with a typical snipe.

Elinor Snowsill continued her good kicking form with a successful conversion to make the half-time score more respectable at 22-7.

Unstoppable New Zealand

Any hopes of a Welsh resurgence were quickly dashed after the break as New Zealand ran in two quick tries.

Theresa Fitzpatrick burst through the tackle of Hannah Jones’, before Maia Roos powered through a double collision to touch down.

Fitzpatrick turned creator to try scorer moments later with Wales left shell shocked.

Alex Callender was introduced for Wales soon after but even the opening round’s top tackler could do nothing to stem the tide.

New Zealand then scored the try of the game on the counter, once again starting from Demant, with the ball going through several offloads before Brunt crossed for her second.

Their seventh try came from an attacking scrum, which New Zealand were able to keep steady before allowing replacement prop Krystal Murray to power through.

Demant added her third conversion of the afternoon.

Wales offered little in the second half, Joyce attempted to go the long way around the defence on a rare attack, but ran out of room.

Wales’ pack continued to make ground, and won a welcome penalty to relieve some pressure.

They thought they had scored from a driving lineout, but after consultation with the TMO the replays showed the ball had been held up.

Wales were boosted by the yellow card of replacement flanker Sarah Hirini 10 minutes from time, but they could not use their numerical advantage as Demant latched onto a floating pass to add her name to the scoresheet.

New Zealand went down to 13 in the dying minutes, number eight Charmaine McMenamin this time sent to the bin for a deliberate knock-on.

Wales pressed for a late score and were rewarded with a try from Harries.

But the hosts had the final say, Tui adding her name to the score sheet, bringing the fans to their feet.

Wales always went into this match as underdogs and remain winless against the Black Ferns at the fifth time of asking, but with Scotland pushing Australia all the way on Saturday, they will fancy their chances against the Wallaroos next weekend.

New Zealand: Ruby Tui; Renee Wickliffe, Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu Atai’i (Sylvia) Brunt, Theresa Fitzpatrick, Portia Woodman; Ruahei Demant (capt) Ariana Bayler; Awhina Tangen-Wainohu, Georgia Ponsonby, Tanya Kalounivale, Maiakawanakaulani Roos, Chelsea Bremner, Alana Bremner, Kendra Reynolds, Charmaine McMenamin.

Replacements: Luka Connor, Krystal Murray, Santo Taumata, Joanah Ngan-Woo, Sarah Hirini, Kendra Cocksedge, Amy du Plessis, Hazel Tubic.

Wales: Kayleigh Powell; Jasmine Joyce, Megan Webb, Hannah Jones, Lisa Neumann; Elinor Snowsill, Ffion Lewis; Cara Hope, Kelsey Jones, Donna Rose, Natalia John, Siwan Lillicrap (capt), Gwen Crabb, Bethan Lewis, Sioned Harries.

Replacements: Kat Evans, Caryl Thomas, Sisilia Tuipulotu, Abbie Fleming, Alex Callender, Keira Bevan, Robyn Wilkins, Kerin Lake.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)

Assistant referees: Julianne Zussman (Canada) & Tyler Miller (New Zealand)

TMO: Chris Assmus (Canada)