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Desiree Miller scores four as Wallaroos run away with big win over Fiji

Australia's Desiree Miller scores a try during the women's international rugby union match between Australia and Fiji at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on July 6, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

Winger Desiree Miller stole the show on Saturday evening with a stunning try-scoring blitz that helped inspire the Wallaroos’ first victory under coach Jo Yapp. The Aussies recovered from a slow start as they ran away with a commanding 64-5 win over Fiji.

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The Wallaroos have played at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium once before this year but that was a defeat to Canada, who went on to win World Rugby’s Pacific Four Series. USA and New Zealand also beat Australia but they’ve bounced back in a big way.

More than one month on from their last Test match against the Black Ferns at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium, coach Yapp named an exciting squad for the clash with Fiji. The team included a mix of experienced campaigners and four potential debutants in the 23.

Flyhalf Arabella McKenzie and loosehead prop Eva Karpani both celebrated their 25h Test matches after being named in the starting side, and other key players included the likes of captain Michaela Leonard at lock, Piper Duck at No. 8 and Lori Cramer out the back.

McKenzie got the match underway with a kick-off on a cool Sydney evening, and it seemed to be one-way traffic early on. Australia dominated possession but couldn’t turn their attacking pressure into points as Fiji’s defensive wall stood strong.

Knock-ons and other mistakes from the Aussies helped keep Fiji in the contest. The hosts weren’t able to take any sense of control on the scoreboard as they scores remain locked at nil-all beyond the 10 minute mark.

Fiji didn’t really touch the ball for more than 12 minutes, but another knock-on gifted them possession. Fijiana set up for an attacking scrum about 30 metres out from the try line and they certainly made the most of it with Adita Milinia crossing for the opener.

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Well and truly against the run of play, the visitors led 5-nil.

But there was a sense of inevitability about the Wallaroos. They kept the attacking pressure on and were rewarded with winger Desiree Miller getting one back for the Aussies in the 15th minute, and the winger scored again a couple of minutes later.

The Wallaroos were ahead on the scoreboard and had the confidence to match. As for Fiji, errors and poor discipline began to creep into their game. Australia made the most of those inaccuracies with Eva Karpani scoring from a rolling maul.

It was the Miller show, though, with the NSW Waratahs speedster adding a third with 10 minutes left to play in the half. The hat-trick was complete and it left the Wallaroos in a strong position with a 24-5 lead.

That’s how the scores stayed going into the break, and then a familiar narrative resumed for Miller and the Wallaroos. The No. 11 reaped the rewards of some quick hands from the Aussies to score, incredibly, a fourth try in less than 50 minutes.

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Siokapesi Palu, Cecilia Smith, Trilleen Pomare, Tiarna Molloy and Bridie O’Gorman also got on the scoresheet as the Wallaroos showcased the very best of their attacking flair in a commanding win.

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3 Comments
B
Brian 135 days ago

Couldn’t agree more James. They have the potential to be a real top 5 team distancing themselves from Scotland, Wales, Italy and Ireland, but it is becoming very competitive and those nations are also determined to move forward to close the gap on France and the Red Roses. Jo Yapp is as good a coach as they can have for the journey.

J
James 136 days ago

Our Wallaroos are a very talented team but never get any credit in the Media in Perth. It’s all about the AFL. WAN is a terrible Sports reporting paper. The Wallabies won and got four inches of a column in the Sports section. The ABs win got one small paragraph. What a disgrace!

B
Brian 138 days ago

Pleased for Jo Yapp. Aussies have sufficient talent and athleticism to become a good team. WXV2 will be interesting plus the warm up against Ireland.

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JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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