Black Ferns winger Katelyn Vahaakolo has bagged a quartet of tries to help the New Zealanders to their biggest win over the Wallaroos on Australian soil, humbling their trans-Tasman rivals 62-0 in Ballymore.
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The result consigned the Wallaroos to their 27th defeat from 27 attempts against the four-time world champions on a horror afternoon made worse by a hideous finger injury to former captain Piper Duck.
Yet again the Black Ferns were simply too powerful and too skilful with ball in hand, dominating possession and territory on Sunday.
Other than a brief period in the first half when the Wallaroos had a try disallowed through prop Eva Karpani, they struggled to string together more than a few phases, consistently out-muscled by the Black Ferns' dominant forward pack.
It took just four minutes for New Zealand to open the scoring, with Georgia Ponsonby burrowing over after a series of irresistible rolling rucks.
The Black Ferns had the game all but wrapped up within the first 40 minutes, scoring five tries to extend their lead to 29 points at the break.
NRLW convert Vahaakolo scored two tries either side of halftime to extend her Black Ferns scoring streak to eight consecutive games.
The 24-year-old brought up her hat-trick with the pick of her day's haul shortly after the resumption, turning on the after-burners to slice through a retreating Wallaroos defensive line and plant the ball under the posts.
"I'm definitely happy (with my performance). I just feel like they passed it to me and all I had to do was put the ball down," said a humble Vahaakolo after the game.
With the game resembling a training session for the Black Ferns, coach Allan Bunting threw on 21-year-old hooker Atlanta Lolohea, who scored a try and was awarded a penalty try in the closing stages to cap off a dream debut.
"Atlanta is so awesome. She is so hard-working and it was such a cool experience to see her come on the field," Vahaakolo said.
The Wallaroos' task was made all the more difficult when Duck was forced from the field in the second half with a dislocated finger.
The stomach-churning sight of her ring finger sticking out at a right angle was like water off a duck's back as the tough-as-nails No.8 casually sauntered off the field, high-fiving teammates as she went.
The defeat was a tough one to take for Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp, who felt her side was on a roll after their 64-5 victory over Fiji the previous weekend.
"It just wasn't a reflection of how we've been training and also how we played last week," Yapp said.
"We kind of went within ourselves as a squad and we didn't really throw a punch like we wanted to. Just generally disappointed and a lot of learnings to take away.
"We just seemed to be quite passive in the collision area and they were winning the collision both sides of the ball, which was making it really hard for us."
Her side will have until September to lick their wounds ahead of a WXV 2 clash with Ireland - the two nations' first encounter in seven years.
Yapp also announced the Wallaroos will play Wales in the UK as they ramp up preparations for the 2025 World Cup.
Australian Associated Press
