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‘We shocked the world’: Wallaroos dig deep for another famous WXV1 win
By Finn Morton
For Australian rugby fans, there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about in the men’s game this year. The Wallabies will undergo an external review after their disastrous year under former coach Eddie Jones, with the Australians winning just two Tests from nine starts.
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But across the Tasman, the Wallaroos have shown the Australian rugby public that there is a golden light at the end of the tunnel. The Aussies overcame a red card to sign off their inaugural WXV1 campaign with a stunning win over Wales.
Australia were looking to record back-to-back wins for the first time this year and send outgoing coach Jay Tregonning out on a high – but it wouldn’t come easy. They’d have to get the better of a team desperate for their first win in WXV1.
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After stunning world. No. 3 France 29-20 in Dunedin last weekend, the Wallaroos dug deep as they held on for a hard-fought 25-19 win over Wales at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium.
Flanker Siokapesi Palu was red-carded less than two minutes into the second half, and a yellow to lock Sera Naiqama five minutes later appeared to be the knockout blow that Wallaroos fans feared.
But the low odds spurred them onto a famous win. Prop Eva Karpani scored an incredible individual try, and scores from Lori Cramer and Ivania Wong helped the Wallaroos’ cause even more.
Australia led by nine points with less than 10 minutes to play, and that was more than enough to see them home.
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The Wallaroos and the Australian rugby public should be very proud of what the national team managed to achieve during a headline-grabbing campaign on the other sides of the ditch.
“I’m just so proud of the girls. I can’t believe it. We worked so hard all week and coming off the win last week, you know I think we shocked the world and we knew we’d have to back it up this week with a good performance,” Player of the Match Kaitlan Leaney said on Sky Sports.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls. We stayed in there, we fought. We were down to 13 players and we just never gave up.
“We just had a really good week at training and I think every player knew their role and we knew what we wanted to achieve out there, so I just went out there and did my job.
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“We trusted our process, we did our jobs well and I wouldn’t be there without my team, my foundation and my support… my team got me here (and) it was a team effort.”
