The world champion Black Ferns of New Zealand won the opening match of a two-test series against Australia's Wallaroos at Viking Park, Canberra on Tuesday.
 
The New Zealanders ran out 37-3 winners, scoring five tries to nil to stretch their unbeaten record against Australia in women’s internationals to nine since the first trans-Tasman contest in 1994.
 
The Australia women’s Sevens team recently downed New Zealand in Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying in Samoa, but the Black Ferns proved that in fifteen-a-side rugby they are still number one.

"This is the start of the next World Cup for us and we're putting things in place towards that in 2010," New Zealand captain Melissa Ruscoe told Total Rugby Radio.

"Ideally we would require more games. It makes sense for us to play Australia and I'm sure they're getting a lot out of it as well. We've got to take what we get and keep building and working on things.

"We see it as a stepping stone and we had five new caps tonight so it was important that they could get out there and have a crack and see how they'd come through, and they stood up well."

Clinical Black Ferns convert possession into points

The Wallaroos showed promising signs during the opening 20 minutes and dominated possession and territory but their inability to mount points scorched them later as the Black Ferns gradually capitalized on a greater share of the ball to lead 19-3 at the break.
 
They extended their advantage with a penalty goal early in  the second half and, as their set piece took control, a further two tries gave the New Zealanders a convincing final margin.

"I don't think there's any sport where Australia and New Zealand compete and anybody is happy to lose, so we definitely felt it out there," said Ruscoe.

"They've got some big girls running at us so we've got a couple of things to work on with tackling and stopping them a bit quicker.

"We need to look at some individual skills, there were a couple of line outs where we lacked accurary, we need to look at the breakdown and clearing them out a lot quicker and definitely the defence," she added.
 
The test was the first for the Wallaroos on home soil since a series against England in 2001, and the first in Australia against the Black Ferns since 1998.
 
The second match in the series will also be played at Viking Park, on Saturday kicking off at 3pm.
 
Scorers:

New Zealand Black Ferns
Tries: Carla Hohepa 2, Olivia Coady, Anna Richards, Halie Hurring; Conversions: Hannah Porter 3; Penalties: Hannah Porter 2

Australia Wallaroos
Penalty: Alana Thomas