After a hard-fought match at the Brighton and Hove Albion Stadium last night, the Wallaroos have officially clinched the final space in the quarterfinals for the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Seven other nations had already qualified before the final weekend of the group rounds, with England, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, France, Canada and South Africa all earning their places with their performances over the last two weeks.
However, this weekend opened with a knockout place still being up for grabs in Pool A, after Australia and the USA drew 31 - 31 last weekend. The eventual quarterfinalist would come down to points difference, as the USA faced Samoa and Australia battled England.
After the USA clocked up 60 points to Samoa’s 0, Australia knew they needed to keep within 75 points of England in order to progress - and they did just that.
Australia vs England match highlights
Although the final score was a significant loss of 47 - 7, this does not reflect the Wallaroos performance in the game.
They defied all pre-match expectations to lead the game for the first thirty minutes, seizing the lead with a powerful maul and converted try.
Their defence was superb, not allowing the Red Roses a chance to gain the upper hand, and their kicking - which the team is renowned for - consistently stumped England.
This is the longest that England has been down for the entire tournament thus far, and demonstrated the Wallaroos are a real force to be reckoned with in this tournament.
Fullback Caitlyn Halse, who is the youngest Wallaroo ever at a World Cup, described their lead as “probably near perfect, probably one of the best halves we’ve had in a while”.
However, the Wallaroos were unable to keep up the momentum in the second half, and once the Red Roses were given a chance, they took it, clocking up a huge 28 points just in the last 40 minutes.
The Wallaroos' quarterfinal
But ultimately, it was one of the rare moments in sport where both sides come away with a victory, as the Wallaroos live to fight another day in their World Cup campaign.
Their quarterfinal will be against Canada in Bristol next weekend, and after proving that they can hold their own against the world number one’s England, Halse spoke on facing the world number twos.
“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves - if we can play how we did in the first half, we can dead that line and hopefully get those points against Canada”.
It is sure to be a huge match at Ashton Gate Stadium, as the stakes get higher and higher in the knockout rounds. As captain Siokapesi Palu emphasised, “In a World Cup like this, it’s do or die and we’ve got to put everything out there”.
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