Heartbreak for England in World Cup epic
The Red Roses were left heartbroken after a sensational World Cup final to New Zealand.
An epic final began in perfect fashion for the Red Roses, as a flowing move created room for full-back Ellie Kildunne to score in the corner and Emily Scarratt steered a tricky conversion between the posts.
The Black Ferns missed a penalty before England struck again, and this time it was the catch and drive that has become a trademark for this team. Amy Cokayne dotted the ball down and Scarratt added the extras.
The defining moment of the game then arrived on 18 minutes, when England winger Lydia Thompson was sent off for a reckless tackle. To the letter of the law, it was the right decision but still brutal for England and for Lydia.
Within seconds, New Zealand compounded the pain with a converted try from Georgia Ponsonby. The Red Roses rallied and extended their lead with another catch and drive, this time scored by Marlie Packer, 7-19.
A brilliant final took another twist with Ayesha Leti-liga exploiting the space of having an extra player to reduce the deficit to five points. Somehow, England responded again, Cokayne touching down from another powerful maul.
A brutal and breathless first period came to a dramatic close with another score from the Black Ferns, Amy Rule the scorer. And they did it again 30 seconds after the restart, as the brilliant Stacey Fluhler swept over the line to make it 24-26.
The hosts then took the lead with a try from Krystal Murray but England, despite having played with one player less for 50 minutes, struck back with Cokayne completing a marvellous hat-trick.
More than 42,000 inside Eden Park, and countless more around the world, were enthralled. England were defending with immense courage and then a key moment of controversy. New Zealand replacement Kennedy Simon crunched Abby Dow with a high tackle, not too dissimilar to the one that saw Thompson dismissed, but this infringement was only deemed worthy of a yellow.
It should have been red!
England’s two-point lead was then removed by a second try from Leti-liga and the Black Ferns led 34-31. The Red Roses won a line-out two metres from the line in the final minute and were driving for the winning score.
Again, the referee intervened to stop the momentum and award a second line-out. New Zealand won the ball and the World Cup.
Devastating for England but a wonderful effort, but congratulations to New Zealand for their victory and for hosting the greatest tournament in Women’s World Cup history.
