SYDNEY :Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s return from retirement paid big dividends for New Zealand at the weekend when the veteran winger scored seven tries to help the world champions thrash the United States 79-14 and retain the Pacific Four title.
Katelyn Vahaakolo on the other wing chipped in with four tries but it was Woodman-Wickliffe who caught the eye with some devastating finishing as the Black Ferns produced a statement win three months before their Women’s World Cup title defence.
The 33-year-old, who was playing her first test since the 2022 World Cup final after coming out of retirement in April, also overhauled Vanessa Coutts as her country’s all-time leading try scorer with 45 five-pointers in 26 internationals.
“It’s always amazing to represent the black jersey and the legacy that we have, but it’s really cool for where we can go from here,” twice World Player of the Year Woodman-Wickliffe said.
“For me, I just finish what the girls are doing, if I’m there to finish the tries out wide, then that’s my job done. We’ve still got a lot of work to do as a whole team, which is really exciting.”
After drawing 27-27 in their last outing against Canada, New Zealand needed to beat the U.S. by 25 points and earn a bonus point on Saturday to retain the Pacific Four title.
Despite the Americans scoring the first try, that proved no problem at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium with sevens standout Jorja Miller also on fire on her test debut at openside flanker.
Canada earlier also finished the tournament unbeaten after putting sixth-ranked Australia to the sword 45-7 with a clinical performance at Brisbane’s Lang Park.
The powerful Canadian pack quickly dented the confidence Australia had built up after beating the U.S. 27-19 in Canberra last week as they signalled they will be no pushovers in England in August and September.
“Obviously we would have loved to get that win against New Zealand last weekend, but we had to move on,” said Canada captain Alex Tessier.
“Overall I was very proud of the girls today. It was a decent win. We put a lot of points on the board.”
New Zealand, who have won six of the nine previous Women’s World Cups but are ranked third in the world behind World Cup hosts England and Canada, next play Australia for a second time this year in Wellington on July 12.
