A dazzling individual try from the halfway line from the quicksilver Maya Stewart capped off the Australian rugby women's terrific second-half display in Cape Town on Saturday.
Just eight days after suffering their first ever loss to Wales on their British Isles tour, the Wallaroos, inspired by a superb fly-half display from teenager Faitala Moleka, looked a completely different outfit, scoring six tries in a scintillating display of running rugby.
Howwwwww? 🔥🔥🔥— Wallaroos (@WallaroosRugby) 📺 @StanSportAU#Wallaroos #WXV pic.twitter.com/1bhMWUuSEUSeptember 28, 2024
Four of those scores came after the break, as the Wallaroos amassed 27 points without reply - a far cry from their historic last-gasp loss to the Welsh in Newport.Â
Halfback Layne Morgan set the ball rolling with a sniping try in the opening minutes, though hooker Carys Phillips crashed over from a driving maul on the half-hour to make it look as if all the pre-match predictions of another close contest would come to pass.
But a magnificent, barnstorming run from Australia prop Eva Karpani, in which she crashed through three defenders, on the stroke of halftime changed the dynamic of the match.
The Wallaroos emerged in electric fashion after the break, with Moleka kicking a penalty before the livewire winger Stewart raced clear down the right edge for the first of her two tries.
Try scorers Faitala Moleka and Eva Karpani were outstanding for the Wallaroos. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
The 19-year-old Moleka herself and replacement Lori Cramer then both dotted over for scores as the Australians, off the back of their scrum mastery, began to attack without inhibition and quite dominated.
It all culminated in Stewart's dazzling tour de force from the halfway line, as she took Moleka's neat offload, sliced between two Welsh markers, slalomed through two more defenders and careered to the line with another despairing tackler hanging off her.
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