Black Ferns 36, France 7: a clean sweep in Christchurch, and a hundred points for Braxton Sorensen-McGee

The Black Ferns finished their biggest year with a clean sweep. They beat France 36-7 at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday 31 October, their first match at the city's new covered stadium, to win the three-Test series 3-0 after an 81-12 win in Hamilton and a 31-12 win in Whangārei. Shyrah Tuliau-Tua'a scored twice, Braxton Sorensen-McGee became the first Black Fern to score 100 points in a calendar year, prop Maddison Robinson scored her first Test try, and after the final whistle two of the team were handed World Rugby awards on the field.

It was the eleventh Test of 2026, a record for the Black Ferns in a year, and the tenth win. The only defeat was 26-19 to England.

It was not a perfect performance, and nobody in black pretended otherwise. New Zealand led only 12-7 at halftime after a first half that New Zealand Rugby's own live blog summed up as "plenty of promise but also plenty of errors". They won the second half 24-0.

The teams

Head coach Whitney Hansen, a Cantabrian coaching the Black Ferns in Christchurch for the first time, made 12 changes to the match-day 23 that won in Whangārei, nine of them in the starting side, with the series already won. "That just speaks to the depth that we've been able to build," she told RNZ during the week. Ruahei Demant kept the No. 10 jersey and the captaincy. Prop Santo Taumata (13 Tests) withdrew on match day with a neck injury and Ngano Tavake came onto the bench. No. 8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker (ankle), halfback Tara Turner (concussion) and prop Atlanta Lolohea (ankle) were also unavailable.

France coach François Ratier changed about seven starters, some by choice and several by injury: flanker Axelle Berthoumieu and centre Gabrielle Vernier were both hurt in Whangārei. Eleven of his 23 had fewer than five caps, and the centres, Élodie Fernandez and Charlie Gauyat, had two caps each. Fernandez, usually a first five, started in the midfield for the first time. Hooker Maïlys Mailagi, 22, made her first Test start.

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.

The changes, and what they did to the experience

New Zealand's starting changes from Whangārei, with Test caps before Christchurch:

• Lock: Maiakawanakaulani Roos (48) for Maama Mo'onia Vaipulu (17), who moved to the bench.
• Blindside flanker: Mia Anderson (7) in, with Liana Mikaele-Tu'u (45) moving from 6 to No. 8.
• Openside flanker: Elinor-Plum King (6) for Layla Sae (24).
• No. 8: Mikaele-Tu'u for the injured Kaipo Olsen-Baker (23).
• Halfback: Maia Joseph (26) for the concussed Tara Turner (9).
• Left wing: Ayesha Leti-I'iga (38) in, Shyrah Tuliau-Tua'a (5) switching to the right, Mererangi Paul (23) to the bench.
• Centre: Amy du Plessis (31), back from concussion, for Justine McGregor (8).

Six new starters brought 156 Tests in place of the 104 that went out, so for all the talk of rotation Hansen's final side was the more experienced one, particularly at lock, halfback, wing and centre.

France's changes ran the other way. Mailagi replaced Mathilde Lazarko (9 Tests) at hooker; Peyras (3) replaced Berthoumieu (36); Morland came in at No. 8 with Champon moving to the side of the scrum; Murie (15) replaced Ibanez (3) on the wing; Fernandez (2) replaced Teani Feleu (26); and Gauyat (2) replaced Vernier (64). In the centres alone France swapped 90 Tests for four.

First half: promise and errors

France began the better. Maia Joseph took the kick-off, New Zealand went wide, a pass went forward and France had a scrum inside the New Zealand 22 within a minute. They won it, carried hard in pairs and crossed the line in the third minute, only for Assia Khalfaoui to be held up.

New Zealand cleared, won a lineout, stretched France to the left and Demant knocked on. A reset scrum, a knock-on by Chambon at the base, a free kick against New Zealand for engaging early: it was that sort of opening. Lock Laura Bayfield won a breakdown penalty in the tenth minute but the kick for the corner missed touch.

Then came the first try. In the 12th minute Mikaele-Tu'u threw a no-look overhead pass in the build-up, Demant chipped a short cross-kick to the right, and Tuliau-Tua'a claimed it and scored in the corner. Sorensen-McGee's conversion from the sideline went wide. 5-0.

France had a scrum in the New Zealand 22 in the 14th minute, with flanker Elsa Peyras off for a head injury assessment, but a poor cross-kick wasted the position. From the next scrum Demant ghosted through from inside her own 22, Sorensen-McGee passed off the ground, du Plessis found Leti-I'iga down the left and New Zealand won a penalty.

In the 18th minute Sorensen-McGee scored against the grain under the posts and converted it herself. It was 12-0, and it was history: the conversion took her to 101 points for 2026, the first Black Fern to pass 100 in a calendar year. She is 20.

New Zealand could have been out of sight by the break. Mikaele-Tu'u spilled the ball five metres from the French line in the 22nd minute. In the 28th, from a lineout drive, du Plessis put Sorensen-McGee through a hole and she stepped off her left foot to score again, but the television match official ruled the pass forward. A maul came apart 15 metres out. Another attack ended with a spill in contact.

France, who won three scrum penalties in the match and had the better of that set piece all night, took their chance. A penalty put them in the New Zealand 22 on the right touchline, the maul drove to within ten metres, the forwards picked and went under advantage, and Mailagi scored on the stroke of halftime, regathering after a team-mate had been held up. It was her first try for France. Arbez converted. 12-7.

Second half: 24-0

The second half started in the French half and mostly stayed there. France won a scrum penalty in the 44th minute and missed touch with it, which summed up their night.

In the 50th minute a cut-out pass, with prop Chryss Viliko among the passers, found Tuliau-Tua'a on the right and she finished a difficult chance in the corner. 17-7. Hansen sent on Robinson and Vaipulu, then Hannah King for Brunt.

King changed the game. She sliced straight through off a scrum just inside the French half, New Zealand kicked a penalty to the corner, won the lineout five metres out, and after several pick-and-goes Robinson crashed over for her first Test try in the 57th minute. Sorensen-McGee converted. 24-7.

France built some phases from a lineout on the New Zealand ten-metre line around the hour, only for a half-break to end in an intercept. Then Tuliau-Tua'a was shown a yellow card in the 64th minute for a high tackle with head contact on replacement halfback Lylou Pédussaud, and the incident was sent for review. It stayed yellow.

Down to 14, New Zealand scored anyway. In the 67th minute du Plessis kicked, Demant gathered and Mererangi Paul finished in the right corner. 29-7.

France's best chance of the half came at 70 minutes. A lineout five metres out, a strong drive, the ball switched back to wing Anaïs Grando with the line open, and she could not hold Pédussaud's pass. New Zealand won the next lineout, cleared, and stole the French throw after that.

The last try was the forwards'. A penalty kicked to the corner, a carry from the lineout stopped just short, and hooker Vici-Rose Green barged over two phases later in the 77th minute. King converted. 36-7. France kicked a late penalty to touch and drove to the New Zealand 22 after the siren, but were penalised for obstruction and New Zealand cleared.

Scorers

New Zealand 36: Shyrah Tuliau-Tua'a 2 (12, 50), Braxton Sorensen-McGee (18), Maddison Robinson (57), Mererangi Paul (67), Vici-Rose Green (77) tries; Sorensen-McGee 2 conversions, Hannah King conversion.

France 7: Maïlys Mailagi try (40); Carla Arbez conversion.

Halftime: 12-7. Yellow card: Tuliau-Tua'a (64).

The numbers

The figures, from the Opta feed in New Zealand Rugby's match centre, tell the same story as the eye. France made 201 tackles and missed 30. New Zealand carried 163 times and made more than twice the metres, but knocked on 11 times. France won the scrum; New Zealand won the lineout, stealing two French throws on top of France's three other losses.

Individually, Sorensen-McGee ran 86 metres and beat five defenders, Tuliau-Tua'a made 75 metres and Leti-I'iga 73. Hannah King made 39 metres and beat five defenders in 26 minutes. Roos led New Zealand's tackle count with 15, one more than Elinor-Plum King. For France, No. 8 Marie Morland, 20, made 21 tackles, Lou Roboam 16 and Léa Champon 15.

What they said

Hansen, in her first year in charge after replacing Allan Bunting, had called 2026 "our biggest year yet" when she named the team. Afterwards, according to a radio report, she acknowledged there were still improvements to make and a busy summer ahead. The Post reported she had mixed feelings about a first half full of errors. Earlier in the week she had told RNZ the team was "still just scratching the tip of the iceberg".

Ratier was blunter with his own side. "Ce n'est pas du tout une défaite encourageante," he told L'Équipe: it was not an encouraging defeat at all. France, he said, undid themselves through a lack of tactical and strategic leadership, and it was not a question of youth; the players had to take responsibility. Before the Test he had pointed to Whangārei, where France were level with ten minutes to go, as proof they could compete for 70 minutes.

The series, and the year

New Zealand scored 148 points and 24 tries in the three Tests to France's 31 points and five tries. Tuliau-Tua'a, who is 20 and had five caps before Christchurch, scored seven tries in the series: four in Hamilton, one in Whangārei and two in Christchurch. Counting the 28-14 win in Lyon in September, the Black Ferns beat France four times in 2026.

Across the year the Black Ferns scored 503 points in 11 Tests, Newsroom calculated, more than England's 481 in the same number.

After the match Kaipo Olsen-Baker was presented with World Rugby's Women's 15s Player of the Year award and Elinor-Plum King with the Breakthrough Player of the Year award, and former Black Fern Rochelle Martin was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. We cover those in a separate story.

Before it, New Zealand's first under-21 women's team beat Australia's NextGen side 43-10 in the curtain-raiser.

What comes next

The Black Ferns' next Test is on Anzac Day, Sunday 25 April 2027, against the Wallaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane for the Laurie O'Reilly Cup, after the men's Bledisloe Cup Test. In September 2027 they host the first British and Irish Lions women's tour: Auckland on 11 September, Wellington on 18 September and Christchurch on 25 September.

France, ranked fourth in the world, go home to rest before the 2027 Six Nations. Ratier's stated target remains the 2029 World Cup in Australia.

Sources: allblacks.com match report, live blog and match centre statistics (Opta); RNZ; NZ Herald; Newsroom; AFP; L'Équipe via Media365; equipe-france.fr.