Throughout this year’s tournament, the Black Ferns have had the same issues – slow starts, poor discipline and being starved of possession for long periods – and that didn’t change against Canada.
What did change was the fact that Canada were able to punish their Kiwi rivals at every given opportunity, when previous opponents weren’t quite able to.
It was a clash that followed tournament trends for the Black Ferns, who again finished the stronger of the two sides, but the gulf on the scoreboard was too large to navigate against a side with the quality of the Canadians.
Canada are now unbeaten in their last three tests with the Black Ferns, with two wins and a draw, and have booked just their second appearance in a World Cup final – after a runner-up finish in 2014. This was a deserved result, with the Canadians strong in possession, physical in defence and causing problems with their ruck speed, while they took full advantage of the Black Ferns failing to find space with their kicking game.
The Black Ferns went into the semifinal as the most penalised of the four remaining teams, and that continued to be an issue as they were on the wrong side of a 10-6 penalty count.
The defending champions found themselves facing a double-digit deficit after 11 minutes as Canada struck from two Black Ferns errors. Fullback Renee Holmes sending a clearing kick out on the full welcomed the Canadians into Black Ferns territory. They crossed through player of the match Justine Pelletier, before a penalty against the Black Ferns let Canada set up an attacking lineout, with left wing Asia Hogan-Rochester scoring after a beautiful long pass from first five Taylor Perry, who hit the winger in stride. The cover defence couldn’t make the tackle.
The Black Ferns conceded three tries inside the opening 24 minutes, without really troubling the Canadian line themselves.
It wasn’t until almost the 30-minute mark that they struck, with prop Tanya Kalounivale storming over.
Behind 24-7 at halftime, the Black Ferns needed to be next to score. They weren’t.
But with 35 minutes to go, things began to click for the defending champions and a try to flanker Liana Mikaele-Tu’u stoked the few embers of hope that were yet to be extinguished.
They threatened to catch fire when winger Braxton Sorensen-McGee scored about 10 minutes later, but a late penalty from Canadian lock Sophie de Goede – among the stars in the winning effort – pushed the scoreline beyond the Black Ferns’ reach to claim a spot on the biggest stage in the sport.
Black Ferns 19 (Tanya Kalounivale, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, Braxton Sorensen-McGee tries; Renee Holmes con, Braxton Sorensen-McGee con)
Canada 34 (Justine Pelletier, Asia Hogan-Rochester, Florence Symonds, Sophie de Goede, Alex Tessier tries; de Goede 3 cons, pen)
HT: 7-24
