Ruby Tui and the Black Ferns have taken flight.
The winger soared with four tries in the opening half as the Black Ferns thumped Wales 70-7 at Forsyth Barr Stadium this afternoon.
It was a perfect response after their loss to France last week, recording their first win of WXV 1 and a special test — their first in Dunedin since 1997.
They were clinical across the field. Their forwards did a power of work and their backline flourished, led by Tui, Amy du Plessis and co-captain Ruahei Demant.
Layla Sae put her hand up for a starting spot. She made some energetic carries in her second cap — and first start — and was part of a savage loose forward trio with co-captain Kennedy Simon and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u.
They put in some bruising hits together, flattening the Welsh any chance they had.
Mererangi Paul got the Black Ferns under way.
Du Plessis put a nice ball behind to Tui, who drew the defenders and putting Paul into space.
The backline were slick, making breaks and slicing through Wales defence.
Demant spotted the space on the right wing with a cross field kick, snaffled up by Tui to score and lead 12-0.
The Black Ferns were punishing in their 22, exploiting Wales with their speed and physicality.
They controlled the game nicely through the next passage, keeping it tight through their forwards who carries strong.
It opened up the space for their backline again.
Du Plessis was cruising towards the line to score, but unselfishly flicked it on to Tui, serving up a hat-trick for her winger.
Du Plessis was superb in the middle, playing a hand in several of the Black Ferns first half tries.
But Tui’s speed on the wing set the game alight, burning Wales down the left to score her fourth in 27 minutes, pushing the Black Ferns to a 27-0 lead.
Wales had no answers for the Black Ferns keep-the-ball-alive attitude, and struggled to find any structure on defence.
Their first chance in the 22 since the opening came in the 30th minute.
They looked to attack through a line out, but Black Ferns lock Maia Roos came through the maul, smothering the ball to force the turnover.
Roos was quick over the ball all game and put in some big hits on defence.
The Black Ferns led 27-0 at the break and barely missed a beat, scoring five minute in to the second half.
Sylvia Brunt took the ball to the line off the back of a line out, flicking it back to Demant.
She set up du Plessis who finished it off, reaching out to slam the ball down under the posts in front of her former home crowd.
They kept rolling forward, looking twice to score through a rolling maul, driven by replacement hooker Luka Connor.
Wales stunted their flow, but kept giving away penalties, allowing the Black Ferns a second bite.
When nothing was on up front, they moved to their backs. Brunt popped the ball inwards, drawing two defending and Paul slipped through the gap, and fended off another to score, leading 41-0.
The Black Ferns eventually coughed up a couple of penalties, allowing Wales to play in the right part of the park.
They made the most of it finally when Abbie Fleming went over a ruck to score. Robyn Wilkins added the extras to trail 41-7.
Katelyn Vahaakolo and Demant, with a perfect dummy, added two more, before replacement loose forward Lucy Jenkins found herself hanging on the wing twice to score.
Paul finished the game off with a stunner to score a hat-trick.
The scores
Black Ferns
Ruby Tui 4, Mererangi Paul 3, Lucy Jenkins 2, Amy du Plessis, Katelyn Vahaakolo, Ruahei Demant, Lucy Jenkins tries; Renee Holmes 4 con
Wales 7
Abbie Fleming try; Robyn Wilkins 1 con
Halftime: Black Ferns 27-0
