Four-try England make it 17 wins on the spin

ENGLAND women opened the Allianz Stadium era at HQ with a victory over New Zealand to make it 17 wins on the bounce before their WXV title defence.

- BEN JAYCOOK

New Zealand looked a real threat early on dominating territory before the Red Roses wrestled back momentum and scored four unanswered tries to look as if they were about to cruise to another victory.

However, in the second half England allowed the Black Ferns back into the contest but they had enough to seal victory over the team who will be their biggest rivals at the home World Cup next year.

Player of the match, flanker Alex Matthews said: “It is never a friendly in Test match rugby – we don’t do friendlies. These are warm-ups, but we started something last year and want to build to the World Cup next year.

“We lost a bit of control; we didn’t play in the areas of the field we wanted to as much. We were tired in the forwards but we came together at half-time. We have a great leadership group and we knew what to do.

“The momentum is great but we look at where we can grow and attack the gap.”