Black ferns win again

The trouble for Australia was they lacked the skill to take advantage and when Portia Woodman crossed 10 minutes later the game was well and truly over.

With the series triumph New Zealand retained the Laurie O'Reilly Memorial Trophy and now turn their attention to next month's end of year tour to Europe.

It was a much improved performance from Australia, who had been beaten 67-3 by the same opposition on Saturday.

The young Australian team turned up to QBE Stadium with a much improved rearguard but this was not the same polished Black Ferns unit from the series opener.

They lacked cohesion in attack and were guilty of far too many handling errors.

They did, however, have a vastly superior scrum, while their aggressive defensive line never looked like breaking.

Having lost all of their previous 14 tests against New Zealand, the Wallaroos needed to come out firing but wing Cobie-Jane Morgan was sent to the sin bin for dissent in just the second minute of the match.

It didn't take long for the Black Ferns to capitalise on the numerical advantage as flanker Sarah Goss cleaned up a wayward lineout before unleashing a big fend on the way to scoring the opener.

When prop Toko Natua barged over to make it 12-3 in the 14th-minute it appeared as though the Black Ferns would again rack up a cricket score.

But much to the surprise of the small crowd gathered in Albany, the visitors found some resolve.

They may have failed to threaten the line but Australia enjoyed a sustained period of possession to keep the Black Ferns camped in their territory.

They couldn't see out the half, though, and a dominant scrum paved the way for wing Honey Hireme to give the Kiwis a 17-3 lead at the break.

The Black Ferns continued to invite the Wallaroos back into the match in the second half with basic mistakes and penalties.

Their issues were then compounded when skipper Fiao'o Faamausili was given a yellow card in the 54th-minute.

Extra reporting from stuff.co.nz