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England sluggish, Matthews and Leti-I'iga bring energy to Allianz Stadium

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Alex Matthews of England breaks with the ball during the Women's International match between England Red Roses and New Zealand Black Ferns at Allianz Twickenham Stadium on September 14, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

England made it 17 Test wins in a row as they signed off from their WXV 1 preparations with a 24-12 defeat of New Zealand at the newly christened Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

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Captain Marlie Packer, Abby Dow, Ellie Kildunne and Natasha Hunt crossed the whitewash for the Red Roses to send the majority of the 41,523 fans in attendance home happy.

However, this was not as routine a victory as the scoreline might suggest. Although the result was decided before Katelyn Vahaakolo scored the first of her two second-half tries, the Black Ferns dominated for large periods.

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Both sets of coaches will have departed Twickenham with pages of notes and an idea of where their teams need to improve before WXV 1 – where they are due to meet again – gets underway in a fortnight.

Here are four takeaways from a sunny afternoon in south-west London.

England start slowly again

For the second week running, England had to dig deep in the early stages as their opponents dominated territory and possession.

There was a general sloppiness to the way the Red Roses played in the opening quarter as passes failed to hit their targets, kicks were charged down, tackles were missed, and gaps appeared in defence.

One glaring example came when Sylvia Brunt punched a hole in the England rearguard and Black Ferns scrum-half Maia Joseph was able to saunter to the breakdown and nonchalantly measure a pinpoint crossfield kick to the returning Ayesha Leti-I’iga.

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Fortunately for Mitchell’s side, New Zealand were unable to capitalise on any of the opportunities forged by Leti-I’iga’s furrows down the right wing and once Packer opened the scoring, the momentum tipped decisively in the hosts’ favour. The Black Ferns’ second-half salvo coming too late.

It was a similar story against France at Kingsholm seven days ago but while there is something to admire in the team’s resilience, they will know there is work to do on the road to next year’s home Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Especially given the Red Roses’ sole defeat in their last 48 matches came in their most important game of that run: the 2022 World Cup final.

After the match, Mitchell spoke about the need for his team to “finish” opponents when they are on top. “I thought our discipline in the last 20 metres of the field let them off the hook,” he said.

Matthews shines brightest for hosts

At the heart of much of what England did well on Saturday, particularly as the Red Roses struggled to find a foothold in the opening exchanges, was Player of the Match Alex Matthews.

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The number eight put in an incredible 23 tackles, helping to stem the early flow of New Zealand pressure and was no less impressive with ball in hand.

Player Tackles Won

1
Zoe Aldcroft
20
2
Abbie Ward
18
3
Alex Matthews
17

Only five players made more carries than Matthews’ seven in the Twickenham sunshine. One break stood out in the first half as Matthews glided through a gap in the Black Ferns defence to put England on the front foot.

The momentum was lost moments later, however, as Holly Aitchison passed the ball straight into touch.

Matthews was forced to sit out the end of Gloucester-Hartpury’s triumphant Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) campaign but is clearly back to her best and loving life at the base of the Red Roses scrum.

Leti-I’iga provides ‘energy’ on return

Ayesha Leti-I’iga only made six carries on her return to Test rugby but that does no justice to the impact she had in south-west London.

The last time she appeared on this stage, almost two years ago, Leti-I’iga scored a brace of tries to help the Black Ferns defeat England and claim their sixth World Cup title.

Player Line Breaks

1
Abby Dow
3
2
Ayesha Leti-I'iga
3
3
Katelyn Vaha'akolo
3

And but for some committed defence from England in Twickenham she could have had at least two more on Saturday. The Red Roses struggled to contain the winger in the early exchanges but any momentum she created invariably fizzled out before the try line.

“She’s a ball of energy,” Black Ferns director of rugby Allan Bunting said. “When she gets the ball in hand, she is hard to stop. It was great to see her running out there again.”

Leti-I’iga’s fellow winger Vahaakolo added: “She is such a lethal player on both sides of the ball, defence and attack, and she’s also a really awesome team-mate off the field.

Player Carries

1
Ellie Kildunne
18
2
Renee Holmes
11
3
Sylvia Brunt
11

“She brings a lot of energy to our team, and I think she made some awesome breaks out there and I think she has had an awesome comeback. I’m so excited to see more of what she’s going to give in the next few games.”

Vahaakolo admitted she and the team are “sore losers” but can also be pleased with her performance at Twickenham, having provided two excellent finishes to get the Black Ferns on the board.

Bunting certainly has plenty of depth to pick from out wide. The biggest cheer for any New Zealand player was reserved for Ruby Tui when she was introduced during the second half, but on this evidence the World Cup winner faces a battle to get back into the team.

Rivalry remains No.1

When evaluating the Black Ferns’ performance in Twickenham, it cannot be ignored that this was their first match since July and the bulk of the squad had arrived in England only a week ago.

It is only natural to wonder what they could have achieved with a little more time to adjust to the conditions and overcome the jetlag associated with completing half a lap of the globe.

Luckily for fans of international rugby, that is not something we will have to ponder for too long given these teams will meet again in three weeks’ time, during the second round of WXV 1 2024 in Canada.

The Black Ferns will undoubtedly benefit from spending that time together and having more time to acclimatise to local conditions, given they are due to leave London for Vancouver, via a stop in Germany, on Tuesday.

Yet, the same could be said for England; there is no guarantee they will be as sluggish starters at Langley Event Centre on October 6th.

What Saturday’s encounter proved, moreover, is that while the fixture has been relegated to the second weekend of WXV 1, this is a rivalry that remains the headline act of the women’s game.

More than one fan on their way to Allianz Stadium on Saturday could be overheard musing about the possibility of returning to Twickenham in a little over a year to watch these two teams contest the World Cup final.

There is a lot of rugby to be played between now and September 27th, 2025, but it feels likely that if these sides do meet at next year’s showpiece tournament, then the winner would finish it with gold medals hanging from their necks.

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Comments

2 Comments
B
BC 48 days ago

I would have thought that NZ would have lost sufficient World Ranking points on Saturday for Canada to rise to 2nd in the world. Why no exchange of points? Despite an attempted explanation by World Rugby as to how they are calculated they are still a mystery.

B
BC 49 days ago

The NZ winger Leti-l'iga brings energy for 20 yards but even Red Roses second row can catch her over 40 as Zoe Aldcroft did on Saturday. Not the energy that would get her into a Red Roses squad. The BFs were here last weekend so jet lag was not an issue. I was there and the Red Roses never looked like losing and won comfortably without playing awfully well. They switched off somewhat in the second half. They'll get a chance to blow a few more cobwebs away playing the USA in Canada. The BFs were all smiles as they came off on Saturday, relieved I think to have avoided a thrashing.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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