The Black Ferns put on a dominant display tonight in Sydney, comfortably beating the Wallaroos 31-11 in front of a crowd of around 28,000 at Olympic Park.
Fiao'o Fa'amausili dives over to score a try. Photo: Photosport
Captain Fiao'o Fa'amausili had a night to remember, scoring three almost identical tries.
After Kendra Cocksedge opened the scoring after an entertaining opening 10 minutes. The Black Ferns moved into the Australian 22 off a penalty and tried spinning the ball wide to highly rated debutante winger Alena Saili.
They went back the other way for Renee Wickliffe to step inside and set up halfback Kendra Cocksedge to score. She converted her own try, but the Australians got on the board after 22 minutes with a penalty to goal kicking prop Emily Robinson.
Kendra Cocksedge opened the scoring. Photo: Photosport
Ten minutes out from half-time, Fa'amausili got an armchair ride to the line off a five metre lineout. Robinson again hit back with a penalty, but some quick thinking by Cocksedge saw her tap and go close to the Australian try line on the stroke of half-time. Powerhouse prop Aldora Itunu was on hand to crash over, and the Black Ferns took a 19-6 lead into half-time.
While the Australians were much better in the second half, they couldn't find any way to stop Fa'amausili replicating her effort twice more in the 60th and 69th minutes. Cocksedge nailed a sideline conversion to end the game as a contest after Fa'amausili completed her hattrick.
The Australians did get a deserved consolation try in the dying stages, to replacement lock Aleisha Hewitt. However, they'll be ruing a high penalty count and lack of plan B when defending the lineout drive.
The two sides meet again next Saturday at Eden Park in the second test of the Laurie O'Reilly trophy series.
Black Ferns 31 (Fiao'o Fa'amausili 3, Kendra Cocksedge, Aldora Itunu try, Cocksedge 3 conversion)
Wallaroos 11 (Aleisha Hewitt try, Emily Robinson 2 penalty)