Black Fern Sylvia Brunt scored two tries in the win over Wales. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
The Black Ferns have secured two wins from two games at the Rugby World Cup and booked a place in the quarterfinals with a game in hand.
The defending champions beat Wales 56-12 in Waitakere on Sunday - scoring 10 tries to two - in front of a significantly smaller crowd than the week before.
The Black Ferns' dominance in the early stages of their home tournament followed the form guide but there are bigger tests to come.
Coach Wayne Smith was pleased to have two wins in the bank, though he still saw things on the field that frustrated him.
"Just some dumb penalties, you can train all week to avoid that but you've got to have the balance in your game to be able to avoid them and just leave it, get off the ground, get back behind the off-side line and play rugby. I'm really disappointed with how many opportunities we gave them," Smith said.
Black Ferns captain Ruahei Demant agreed with Smith's assessment of the performance which saw New Zealand drop to 13 players late in the game.
"The way that we allowed Wales to get into that game was off our own mistakes and off our ill-discipline at set-piece defence but also in general defence around rucks. So I know that will be a big focus for us moving forward but I was proud of the way that we fixed problems that we had last week," Demant said.
Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith with Kendra Reynolds. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
Tournament favourites England also secured their quarterfinal berth, with a 13-7 win over France on Saturday and Smith was aware that the Black Ferns needed to measure up to the team that was on a 27-game winning streak.
"If you look at England they never drop a ball and they give away very few penalties. If they're the yardstick then we are nowhere near it," Smith said.
Smith had rung the changes match-to-match so far in the tournament and he said he would do it again for Saturday's game against a winless Scotland in Whangarei.
"There's virtually no-one that's played poorly other than some of the penalties given away and some of the discipline that frustrates me, no-one has actually played poorly and so we know we've got a strong 32 and I feel really fortunate."
Demant was one of five players that had started both games in the tournament and the first-five said competition for places would increase as the tournament progressed.
"When we get to the quarter stages it's going to be really hard for players to put their hand up especially when there's so many great talented players in each position. The depth in each position is insane, I'd hate to be a coach."
England captain Sarah Hunter is at her fourth world cup and was not expecting an easy route to the final - for any team.
"This has definitely been the most competitive world cup that I've been involved in, we're not even out of the pool stages yet so it's sure looking like it's going to hot up a little bit as we go through.
The Black Ferns final pool game against Scotland is one of three games at Northland Events Centre on Saturday - and the New Zealanders will be back in Whangarei for the quarterfinals.
