Image via Wikipedia Rugby World Cup - New Zealand's fourth straight women's World Cup win this morning, after narrowly beating England 13-10 in the final at London, was built around composure, veteran first five-eighth Anna Richards said. Richards, 45, was one of three Black Ferns shown the yellow card during the keenly contested match which was not settled until the 66th minute when Kelly Brazier slotted home a penalty.
The Black Ferns' defence then proved impenetrable for the final 14 minutes as England, playing New Zealand in a final for the third consecutive time, launched a series of attacks from deep inside their half in a desperate attempt to snatch victory.
For Richards, it was a fourth World Cup medal in a Black Ferns career that began in 1990.
Today's final marked her 49th test for the Blacks Ferns after having been called up when first choice No 10 Amiria Rule was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury.
"It feels awesome, it feels kind of surreal," Richards said at a post match interview.
"It was an awesome atmosphere tonight and kind of a strange game with all the sin-binnings. It was a weird game actually, but nice to come out on top.
"It definitely ebbed and flowed. I thought we had the better first 15 or 20 and then England came back when we had a couple of sin-binnings.
"Our composure (helped us win), especially when we were down to 14 and 13 at some stages, and we believed in ourselves."
It felt good to collect her fourth winner's medal.
"I am tired but it is kind of surreal, I will believe it later but I am really happy. This one is exactly the same, it doesn't get any better - it's the best."
Otago winger Carla Hohepa crossed in the 33rd minute to score the opening try of the match while the Black Ferns had 14 players on the field.
Richards had been shown the yellow card for not rolling away in the 22nd minute and was joined in sin bin seven minutes later by prop Mel Bosman.
Otago second five-eighth Kelly Brazier converted Hohepa's try and New Zealand went to the break leading 7-0.
England's Katy McLean narrowed the lead with an early second half penalty but New Zealand came back.
Hohepa nearly added a second try when she pounced on an England turnover but lock Joanna McGilchrist produced the cover tackle of the tournament.
Brazier stretched New Zealand's lead to 10-3 with a penalty but the Black Ferns lost skipper Melissa Ruscoe to yet another yellow card in the 57th minute.
England took advantage of their superior numbers to equalise in the 62nd minute.
They opted to scrummage from the penalty and, after great work from the pack, the ball was popped onto the blindside for Charlotte Barras to score her fourth try of the tournament which McLean superbly converted.
New Zealand's winning points came from a penalty after they drove deep into English territory and Brazier slotted home from just inside the 22m line.
Ad Feedback "I was pretty nervous (with the penalty at 10-10)," Brazier said.
"The crowd were making a lot of noise. I just thought of it as another kick and thankfully it went straight through the posts.
"Obviously there was still a bit of time on the clock so I knew it wasn't over yet."
But New Zealand defence was up to the task as they calmly repelled England.
"We knew if we could just get back down their end, no one has scored on us from their own 22, so we were happy," Brazier said.
Ruscoe said the team's response to the sin-binnings had been "massive and that doesn't come down to fitness".
"It doesn't come down to how much you do down at the gym - that comes down to pride and passion and the jersey that you are wearing. The girls just put their whole heart into it and got us through the game."
Australia finished third, downing France 22-8 in the playoff.
Results:
Final: New Zealand 13 England 10
3rd Place Play-Off: France 8 Australia 22
5th Place Play-Off: USA 23 Canada 20
7th Place Play-Off: Ireland 32 Scotland 8
9th Place Play-Off: Wales 29 South Africa 17
11th Place Play-Off: Sweden 8 Kazakhstan 12
