FLASHBACK FRIDAY: PAPANUI PAIR SHINE ON KIWI FERNS DEBUT
Ahead of the opening round of the expanded CRL Women’s Premiership on Sunday, Flashback Friday revisits one of the most notable occasions in Canterbury’s modern history on the international rugby league stage.
The Australian Jillaroos reclaimed supremacy in women’s rugby league with a well-deserved win in a typically bruising and absorbing 2017 Anzac Test against a gallant Kiwi Ferns outfit, but the disappointment of the 16-4 result was tempered in Canterbury by the outstanding debuts of front-rower Bunty Kuruwaka-Crowe and centre Corrina Whiley.
The Papanui Tigers pair emphatically proved they belonged in elite company with superb individual performances at Canberra’s GIO Stadium.
Kuruwaka-Crowe stood up to experienced Jillaroos prop duo Ruan Sims and Heather Ballinger, playing 62 minutes of the Test (more than any other front-rower) and racking up the most runs of any Kiwi forward (18) for a return of 103 metres, while she reeled off 22 tackles – including a string of courageous low efforts that chopped down the Australian ball-runners.
Whiley led the Ferns’ three-quarter line with 98 metres from 12 runs, including several determined charges from dummy-half that helped the visitors out of their own end. She came desperately close to scoring twice in the second half, with only excellent Jillaroos cover defence denying her in the corner.
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THE MATCH
The green-and-golds grabbed the early ascendancy when debutant Isabelle Kelly – a late inclusion for injured fullback star Sam Bremner – scored a stunning 50-metre kick-return try in the 10th minute.
The Kiwi Ferns hit back in the 25th minute after a period of concerted pressure, with winger Atawhai Tupaea crossing out wide. But the Jillaroos landed a crucial blow soon afterwards when 19-year-old five-eighth Zahara Temara followed up her own bomb – which the Ferns fumbled – to score a debut try and give the home side a 12-4 halftime advantage.
The Ferns were camped on their own line for an age after the resumption and they finally cracked as veteran Renae Kunst powered over in the 51st minute.
It would be the last scoring play of the evening. New Zealand regained momentum and had a ton of chances to claw their way back into the match, but Australia’s goal-line defence was outstanding and they held strong to chalk up a gutsy 12-point win to go with their inaugural Nines triumph in February.
While the Jillaroos deservingly took the silverware and plaudits, the match was another glowing example of the giant strides women’s rugby league has made in recent years; it was an awesome exhibition from both sides.
The Kiwi Ferns, brilliantly led by fullback Sarina Fiso, were magnificent: brutal in defence and enterprising in attack. They had the lion’s share of possession, but a gritty all-round effort from the super-fit Jillaroos – who took their rare opportunities – got the job done.
THE AFTERMATH
Kuruwaka-Crowe skippered Papanui to a grand final victory over Linwood later in 2017, with player of the match Whiley scoring two tries and laying on another in a dominant display.
Kuruwaka-Crowe subsequently played three matches in New Zealand’s 2017 Rugby League World Cup campaign, though she missed the squad for the final rematch against Australia.
Whiley earned a Warriors contract for the inaugural NRLW season in 2018 but injury ruled her out of the trailblazing competition.
The pair reunited for Sydenham Swans’ surge to back-to-back CRL Women’s Premiership triumphs in 2020 and ’21. Engine-room powerhouse Kuruwaka-Crowe won player-of-the-match honours in both grand finals.
Representative mainstay Kuruwaka-Crowe was still an integral part of the Trillo Metals Canterbury Women’s team in 2023 – six years after her Kiwi Ferns breakthrough.
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