Grace Kemp and her Australian teammates will have their toughest task to date when they go up against the 2022 New Zealand Women’s Rugby World Cup favourites in the England Red Roses this Sunday at Waitakere Stadium, Auckland, kick-off from 11:30am.
Both teams had different experiences in the group stages. England coasted through their group dominating both Fiji (84-19) and South Africa (75-0). France gave them a bit more of a challenge but will still no match for the Red Roses, going down 13-7 against the English ladies.
Australia needed to be at their very best, with New Zealand, Scotland and Wales filling out what was perhaps the strongest of the three groups.
After getting a 17-0 lead against New Zealand in their first game, the Aussies would concede 41 straight points and put themselves in an uphill battle to make it out of the group.
The Wallaroos showed how big their hearts were in the remaining two games with narrow wins against Scotland (14-12) and Wales (13-7) setting up the quarter final match against England.
In the 30 years the Women’s Rugby World Cup has been going, England have won the competition twice and come runners-up five times. Australia over the 30 years have come third once in 2010, which was their best finish in the competition to date.
England boasts a tough forward pack who are strong in the ruck and are instrumental in the ladies dominating field position and games. Wallaroos lock and Harden hero Grace Kemp may see her most minutes in the World Cup so far as the Wallaroos try to neutralise a classy Red Roses forward pack.
Regardless of their result on Sunday, Australia’s women can keep their head held high knowing they’ve done one better than the previous World Cup in 2017, where they finished 7th.
The winner of the clash between will play the winner of the Canada versus USA game, which will be played after the England versus Australia game at 2:30 pm.
Tully Potts
