Wales Women suffered a record 70-7 defeat to world champions New Zealand under the roofed Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
It was Wales’ second consecutive defeat in the WXV1 tournament and now they have to regroup before finishing their campaign in Auckland next week where they will face Australia.
History was against Wales as they entered the contest. The Black Ferns have never lost to Wales and conquered them twice at the 2022 Rugby World Cup, winning the pool game 56-12 in Waitakere. In the quarter final in Whangārei the Black Ferns won 55-3. From that match, the Black Ferns had nine survivors while Wales had 10.
New Zealand were in control from the outset, never allowing Wales to get a foothold in the match. They quickly spread the ball wide at every opportunity with seven of the 12 tries coming from wingers Ruby Tui and Mererangi Paul.
Inside 18 minutes Wales had conceded two tries and lost full back Nel Metcalfe to the sin bin and had given away five penalties.
New Zealand dominated the opening exchanges when and by the time had Tui cantered over for her second try, exposing the Welsh defence with ease, the writing was on the wall for Ioan Cunningham’s team.
Wales couldn’t get a foothold in the game at all and found possession at a premium. On the rare occasion they managed to get into New Zealand’s half they lost the ball and the home side made them pay dearly.
The Black Ferns constantly found acres of space out wide and worked winger Tui over for her hat-trick and almost immediately she had the ball in her hands out wide again, did a goose-step to stroll over for her fourth try.
By the time Metcalfe returned from her stint on the naughty step, the Black Ferns were already in cruise control.
A promising drive 5m out came to nothing for Wales due to obstruction while another opportunity went begging with a squiffy line-out.
Trailing 27-0 at the break, the Black Ferns were out of the blocks quickly in the second period as Wales were unable to release the pressure valve.
Wales continued to concede penalties under pressure. Paul raced over for her second try while centre Amy Du Plessis powered over before fly half Ruahei Demant darted over.
Wales briefly stopped the one way traffic when second row Abbie Fleming piled over from close range for fly half Llecu George to convert. But that just proved a blip for the Black Ferns as they continued to score at regular intervals to ensure they bounced back from their defeat to France in the opening round.
Jasmine Joyce was a one-woman wrecking crew for Wales. Her herculean defensive shift in a losing cause prevented an even higher defeat. On countless occasions she saved the day with big hits and claimed several turnovers to at least give Wales some hope for next week’s game against Australia.
Scorers: Tries: Mererangi Paul (3), Ruby Tui (4), Amy Du Plessis, Katelyn Vahaakolo, Ruahei Demant , Lucy Jenkins (2)
Cons: Renee Holmes (5)
Try: Abbie Fleming; Con: Lllecu George
