England down Ferns at Twickenham

The Black Ferns threatened to open the scoring eight minutes in when Ayisha Leti-I'iga broke down the wing, but an excellent cover tackle by Jess Breach allowed Kildunne to force the turnover. Minutes later Leti-I'iga again found herself bearing down on the line following a break from Katelyn Vaha'akolo, but another Kildunne intervention dislodged the ball and kept the scores level.

On the 15 minute mark a powerful burst from Sarah Bern put the Red Roses in the opposition half and Natasha Hunt kicked long to the corner. Alex Matthews won a penalty from the New Zealand lineout and England kicked to the corner before setting their maul up well to put Packer over to open the scoring. Aitchison's conversion went wide leaving a 5-0 lead.

When the Black Ferns looked to respond with a lineout on the English 22m, Abbie Ward stole the ball and England worked the ball wide to Dow. Dow handed off one defender and stepped around another to eat up Black Fern territory.

Despite being brought down 20 metres from the line, Dow was not to be denied when a few minutes later she stepped past Vaha'akolo and raced in to score in the corner. Aitchison's kick was unsuccessful and England's lead remained.

The Red Roses continued to push and forced consecutive penalties before kicking to the corner. From the resulting maul, the ball was worked wide and found Kildunne in space who stepped her way to the line before reaching out to score. Aitchison converted to open up a 17-point lead with two minutes of the half remaining.

Just before half-time Zoe Aldcroft received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, but the Black Ferns could not capitalise from the resulting penalty.

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The Red Roses began the second half at pace as New Zealand knocked on from the kick off. From the resulting scrum in the New Zealand 22m, England worked the phases before Hunt dummied and stretched over the line to score. Aitchison added the extras and opened up a 24-0 lead.

The Black Ferns hit back after 51 minutes through Vaha'akolo after her kick ahead bounced awkwardly into the hands of Ruahei Demant, who offloaded to Vaha'akolo to score. Renee Holmes' conversion went wide to leave the score at 24-5.

Vaha'akolo scored her second 10 minutes later as New Zealand worked the ball from side to side and Holmes added the extras to make it 24-12.

England looked to respond a few minutes later, and a smart pass from Tatyana Heard found Amy Cokayne who showed great pace before passing to Helena Rowland, but the ball trickled into touch.

The Black Ferns pushed for a third try but with Georgia Brock on for her debut, England's defence held firm to secure the 24-12 win.