AUCKLAND, New Zealand —
England and Canada made easy work of their quarter-finals at the
Women’s Rugby World Cup in Auckland on Sunday, ensuring the world’s top four ranked teams
will contest the semifinals.
اضافة اعلان
In wet conditions,
England steamrolled Australia 41–5 before Canada were nearly as dominant in
their quarter-final, seeing off the US 32–11.
The two winners will square off at
Eden Park on
Saturday, while defending champions New Zealand will face France in the other
semifinal after they eased past Wales and Italy respectively.
The final four have been a class above their rivals
at the tournament and were barely threatened in the quarter-finals, where the
average score across the four games was 42–6.
England retained the favorite’s tag with a
power-packed display against the Wallaroos, with all seven tries scored by
forwards, including a hat-trick to flanker Marlie Packer.
However, no try sparked greater celebrations than
the opener to captain Sarah Hunter, in a game where she became the most capped
women’s Test player.
The veteran No.8 was playing her 138th Test,
surpassing the previous record held by former England prop and long-time
team-mate Rochelle Clark.
“It’s been amazing, I’ve tried not to think about it
too much — you don’t know what’s going to happen so I just wanted to get out on
the pitch,” Hunter said.
“It’s a really special day and now I can sit back
and enjoy it.”
Australia had no answer to the cohesion of England’s
pack and the tactical kicking of fly-half Zoe Harrison.
Those facets have been at the heart of a 29-match
winning streak which has the Red Roses favoured to secure a third world title.
However, Hunter says they can’t get ahead of
themselves.
“We’re now in the business end of the tournament and
we’re going to have no easy rides along the way,” she said.
“We’ll look at this game and see where we need to
work on and tidy up things.”
They will be challenged up front by world No.3
Canada, who scored two tries in each half, complemented by 12 points from the
boot of captain Sophie de Goede.
De Goede said a team meeting on the eve of the match
brought them together, as they reflected on the sacrifices made by many in what
is effectively an amateur sport in Canada.
“We spoke a bit about what every person has gone
through to get to this point,” she said.
“For every player to come out here and perform the
way we did, I’m just so proud of this group.”
The US opened the scoring through a try to hooker
Jojo Kitlinski but they failed to cross again as Canada’s superior driving play
set up tries to forwards McKinley Hunt and Karen Paquin before halftime, when
they led 12-8.
Backs Paige Farries and Alex Tessier made the result safe
with tries, as the Canucks beat the US for a record seventh-straight time, a
run which included last week’s 29—14 win in group play.
Read more Sports
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
