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Injury woes dampen Black Ferns' hot start at Rugby World Cup
Jaxin Daniels • August 25th, 2025 10:13 am
New Zealand's Portia Woodman-Wickliffe touches down for her record-extending 21st World Cup try | Photo: AP
A 54-8 win in York is how the Black Ferns kicked off their World Cup defense, showing class to defeat a gallant Spanish side in the early hours of the morning.
It took the side 13 minutes to get the first 5 pointer, with 21-year-old Jorja Miller scoring the first two tries in 4 minutes.
An almost perfect day off the boot from Renee Holmes saw her go 7 for 8, showcasing her kicking ability that could prove very important in the latter stages of the competition.
The Black Ferns did not escape the fixture unscathed, losing loose forward Kaipo Olsen-Baker to a leg injury, where she was taken from the field via medicab.
The injuries didn’t stop there for the Black Ferns, finishing with only 13 players after injuries picked up by double try scorer Ayesha Leti-I’iga and centre Amy du Plessis.
Workhorse Liana Mikaele-Tu’u was awarded player of the match after a 17 carry, 6 offload game, topped off with a try in the second half.
The 7,500 strong crowd poured in to see some great rugby and catch a glimpse of Portia Woodman-Wickliffe do what she does best, and she delivered.
Coming on in the second half, she found some space underneath Holmes after a great run, storming to the line to build on her already record-holding try tally of 21 at World Cups.
It wasn’t all bad for the Spanish fans in York, their side scoring a consolation try after the full time hooter, followed by a perplexingly long conversion that was ultimately waved off after a shot clock violation.
All in all, the Spanish were well up for the challenge, and the Black Ferns had to adapt to that. But when the Kiwi girls started rolling, the points came.
Lineout mauls, wide running, straight down the middle, you name it, the girls were doing it.
It will be interesting to see how Allan Bunting’s side will line up with the injury toll mounting.
New Zealand’s next challenge will be against a Japanese team, who went down to Ireland, at 1am on Monday September 1.
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