BRIGHTON - New Zealand made sure of top spot in Pool C with a bonus-point win over Ireland to set up a Rugby World Cup quarter-final against the loser of Sunday’s Pool D match between France and table-topping South Africa.
BRIGHTON - A Braxton Sorensen-McGee hat-trick helped New Zealand clinch top spot in Pool C with a bonus-point win over Ireland to set up a Rugby World Cup quarter-final against the loser of Sunday’s Pool D match between France and table-topping South Africa.
Ireland began strongly, reminding the Black Ferns they would have to work hard for the win, but they succumbed on 15 minutes when their opponents speedily fed the ball through a series of black shirts to Stacey Waaka who darted down the wing to score.
Waaka’s fellow centre Sylvia Brunt made an incisive linebreak five minutes later only to be stymied by desperate defending but, when the ball was recycled, prop Chryss Viliko proved unstoppable from short range.
Ireland full-back Stacey Flood had been forced off through injury at the packed Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium by the time 18-year-old Aucklander wing Sorensen-McGee (pictured) scored either side of half-time on the right flank.
Scott Bemand’s team went at New Zealand at the start of the second half but in 19 phases of play could find no way through and after Amee Leigh Costigan was denied by the roll of the ball from collecting Dannah O’Brien’s kick through at the corner flag, Sorensen-McGee claimed her third of the match before Maia Jospeh ran in the sixth and final try.
What a centre pairing New Zealand boast in Waaka and Brunt - it was the latter who caught the eye most against Ireland.
"I want to say happy Father's Day back home to my dad and all my uncles! It feels really good, I couldn't have done it without them and without my team.
"I enjoyed that with the team. We have a saying 'with you, with me' and that is something that we take through the tournament. Very grateful to be in the quarter-finals. We've just been going game by game so looking forward to it."
New Zealand scored on 50% of their visits to their opponent's 22 - six tries in 12 attempts. Ireland didn't manage to cross the line in seven visits into the Black Ferns' 22.
Both teams have a quarter-final to prepare for in the coming week. Their opponents will be South Africa or France, the top two teams in Pool D who meet later on Sunday. As things stand, the Black Ferns will play runners-up France and Ireland would face the Springboks. However, a France victory at Franklin’s Gardens would switch those opponents over.
