Black Ferns 31, France 12: a 150th Test that hung on one held-up try in Whangārei

The Black Ferns' 150th Test was nearly the one that got away. A week after beating France 81-12 in Hamilton, they led a transformed French side only 14-12 with 13 minutes to play at a packed Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei on Saturday 24 October, before three tries in five minutes took them to a 31-12 win and a 2-0 series lead. Mererangi Paul scored twice, Braxton Sorensen-McGee ran 60 metres for the try of the match, and captain Ruahei Demant produced the defensive play that turned it, holding a French prop up over the line with the score at 14-12.

It was win number 124 from 150 Tests, a winning rate of 83 percent, and the ninth win from ten in 2026. It also cost them their best player of the year: No. 8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker left the field in the 24th minute with a high ankle sprain.

"The score definitely doesn't reflect how hard it was," Demant told Sky Sport.

The teams

Test caps are those before this match. The French federation does not publish cap counts, so the French figures are RUGBE's own running tally and should be read as approximate.

Centre Amy du Plessis was a late withdrawal with concussion, and hooker Atlanta Lolohea hurt an ankle at training two days before the match. Tara Turner, a Northlander, started at halfback in her home province.

First half: France arrive

Whangārei turned on a beautiful, hot afternoon and France turned up a different team. They claimed the kick-off, New Zealand lost their first lineout and were penalised twice for offside on their own line, and from the five-metre lineout hooker Mathilde Lazarko scored from the drive in the sixth minute. Carla Arbez missed the conversion. 0-5.

New Zealand's lineout stayed untidy and France's forwards offloaded well. Hooker Georgia Ponsonby left for a head injury assessment in the 11th minute, returning 12 minutes later. A big tackle by Sylvia Brunt forced a spill, Sorensen-McGee counter-attacked, the Black Ferns worked to within a metre of the line, and in the 15th minute a cut-out pass from Turner put Paul through a hole. Sorensen-McGee converted. 7-5.

France answered with their kicking game, pinning New Zealand in the corners. A try-saving hit by Shyrah Tuliau-Tua'a dislodged the ball once, but in the 23rd minute wing Anaïs Grando claimed a cross-kick, cut infield and beat the cover. Arbez converted. 7-12.

A minute later Olsen-Baker went down away from the play and was helped off with an ankle injury. Amarante Sititi replaced her and played the remaining 57 minutes.

New Zealand hit back before the break. A penalty at the ruck, Sorensen-McGee freeing Paul down the right, a lineout on the French 22, strong carries through the middle and then wide to the left, where Sorensen-McGee gave the last pass and Tuliau-Tua'a scored in the corner in the 30th minute, her fifth try of the series. Sorensen-McGee converted from out wide. 14-12.

France then built 13 phases to the New Zealand 22 before a final pass went down, and the half ended with a Demant penalty kicked dead and France penalised for obstruction at a lineout in the New Zealand 22. New Zealand Rugby's live blog called France "a totally different outfit".

Second half: held up, then let loose

Coach Whitney Hansen changed the shape at halftime. Hannah King came on at first five for Justine McGregor, Demant moved to second five and Brunt to centre.

It did not work at once. The heat was affecting the handling, France won the kicking exchanges, and for the first ten minutes of the half they dominated. Grando chased and regathered a long kick, France were five metres out, then two, attacking the posts. An attacking kick was spilled by Brunt, France had a five-metre scrum, New Zealand engaged early and France tapped.

In the 56th minute prop Ambre Mwayembe charged over with two team-mates behind her. Demant got her body under the ball and held it up. The television match official confirmed it: no try. Had France scored and converted they would have led 19-14.

France came again after the drop-out and found space on the left, where Ponsonby made a covering tackle. France won a scrum penalty with a big shove. Then Layla Sae won a breakdown penalty in the New Zealand 22 in the 65th minute, and the game turned.

In the 67th minute replacement halfback Maia Joseph threw a cut-out pass from the ruck that missed four players and found Sititi, who scored untouched on the left, her first Test try of the series. 19-12.

In the 70th, New Zealand lost a lineout and France cleared, straight to Sorensen-McGee inside her own half. The fullback, who is 20, ran through the middle, goose-stepped the last defender and scored, then converted it. 26-12.

In the 72nd, Brunt broke down the left, Maiakawanakaulani Roos carried, and the ball went through the hands to Paul in the right corner for her second. 31-12.

France by then had used all their replacements, and when flanker Axelle Berthoumieu went off injured in the 72nd minute they finished with 14. Demant had a late try ruled out when the ball touched a French player before she could regather.

Scorers

New Zealand 31: Mererangi Paul 2 (15, 72), Shyrah Tuliau-Tua'a (30), Amarante Sititi (67), Braxton Sorensen-McGee (70) tries; Sorensen-McGee 3 conversions.

France 12: Mathilde Lazarko (6), Anaïs Grando (23) tries; Carla Arbez conversion.

Halftime: 14-12. Referee: Amber McLachlan.

The numbers

This was a contest in a way Hamilton was not. France won more rucks, kicked further, lost none of their own lineouts and beat more defenders. What undid them was discipline, with nine of their 12 penalties for killing the ruck, and finishing.

Sorensen-McGee carried for 142 metres and scored 11 points. Paul made 76 metres and three clean breaks. Laura Bayfield made 22 tackles, Sae 20, Liana Mikaele-Tu'u 18 and Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu 17. For France, Léa Champon made 21 tackles and Lou Roboam 19, and Grando ran 73 metres.

What they said

Demant credited the bench. "Our finishers added awesome impact," she told Sky Sport.

Hansen was frank about the first half. "We just didn't kick well enough in the first half," she said afterwards, according to the Herald, adding that the space had been there. The kicking improved after the break, she said, but the ruck work, carrying and tackling had to be better.

On Olsen-Baker, she told Newstalk ZB the next day that it was a high ankle sprain with no clear timeline. "Fingers crossed she comes through this," she said. Turner was concussed in the second half and missed the third Test; Ariana Bayler was called in as cover.

France coach François Ratier took heart, saying before the third Test that his side had shown they could compete for 70 minutes. He described Whangārei to L'Équipe as a revolt, a real realisation that it was possible.

What came next

The Black Ferns completed the sweep a week later, beating France 36-7 in Christchurch. Our full report of that Test, with the series numbers, is a separate story.

Sources: allblacks.com match report, live blog and match centre statistics (Opta); 1News and RNZ; NZ Herald; Newstalk ZB; L'Équipe via Media365.