The Red Roses scored seven tries in the second-half to race to a 48-15 victory over Australia in their WXV Global Series opener at the CorpAcq Stadium in Salford. Despite a scintillating second 40 from the hosts, the first half was all about Australia as they showed defensive strength to hold on to a 10-5 lead at half-time thanks to a Samantha Wood penalty and a converted Faliki Pohiva effort. When Wood was in the sin bin for a deliberate knock on was the only time the Red Roses got on the board as Abi Burton went over from short range.
Holly Aitchison was unable to add the extras. Remarkably, it was the first time the Red Roses had trailed at half-time in seven years, the last time coming all the way back in 2019. However, it was in the second half that England got back to their usual best and with tries from May Campbell, Meg Jones, Bryony Field, Mia Venner, Sadia Kabeya, Lucy Packer, Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, plus a conversion from Holly Aitchison and three from Zoe Harrison, they made it 39 matches in a row unbeaten.
The Wallaroos did get a second-half try thorugh Eva Karpani, who was earlier sent to the sin bin for an infringement in the build-up to Venner's try but it was merely a consolation as the Red Roses showed just why they are currently the No 1 ranked team and world champions. Next up for England is Canada on September 19 in Exeter, before they face New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on September 26. It was truly a tale of two halves in the North West of England as Australia took an early lead after England were penalised for holding on, Wood slotting over the conversion for a three-point lead after four minutes.
The Red Roses thought they had quickly hit back through skipper Meg Jones but on review, she was offside as the charge down on the kick occurred and so her effort was chalked off, and the visitors' early advantage was reinstated. Despite Australia taking control, they allowed England to get into the game when Wood was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on and they had to battle for 10 minutes with just 14 players. They did well for five minutes until the Red Roses' numerical advantage brought the spoils on the left edge, Sadia Kabeya passing back on the inside to send Burton in.
That did not deter Australia though and back at full strength, they thought they had gone over through Brittany Merlo but once again the video referee intervened and this time dismissed the try due to sealing off at the line-out. It took eight minutes for the Wallaroos to go over again and this time it was from an impressive steal at the line-out. Off the back of it, Pohiva used her strength to burrow over and Wood converted to put Australia 10-5 ahead.
Australia's defence, as it did throughout the majority of the first half, then continued to stand firm and deny England any more points before the break. That meant they went in behind for the first time in seven years and were firmly in unprecedented territory. That seemed to motivate the home side though and it took seven minutes for England to pull the line-out maul out of their back pocket with Campbell finishing it off.
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