{"id":18533,"date":"2025-09-08T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=18533"},"modified":"2025-09-08T00:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T00:00:15","slug":"sorensen-mcgee-hat-trick-as-world-cup-holders-new-zealand-thump-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=18533","title":{"rendered":"Sorensen-McGee hat-trick as World Cup holders New Zealand thump Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"
Teenage rising star Braxton Sorensen-McGee grabbed a hat-trick of tries as reigning champions New Zealand secured top spot in Pool C of the Women’s Rugby World Cup with an emphatic 40-0 rout of Ireland in Brighton on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Victory saw the record six-time World Cup winners gain revenge for their shock 29-27 loss to Ireland at last year’s WXV tournament in Vancouver, with 18-year-old wing Sorensen-McGee leading the way on Sunday as the Black Ferns scored six tries.<\/p>\n

New Zealand’s unbeaten group campaign means they will face South Africa in the last eight.<\/p>\n

The Springboks, already through to their first Women’s World Cup quarter-final, were overpowered 57-10 by France later on Sunday with Les Bleues, the winners of Pool D, taking on Ireland for a place in the last four.<\/p>\n

The other two quarter-finals had been confirmed on Saturday, with tournament favourites England —\u00a0 having equalled their own record of 30 straight wins — now playing Scotland, and world number twos Canada up against Australia.<\/p>\n

New Zealand coach Allan Bunting, reflecting on the win over Ireland, said: “Job done, pretty proud of that one.”<\/p>\n

“Scott (Bemand) and the Irish ladies really threw everything at us and put us under a lot of pressure but we were formidable on D (defence), we didn’t want to let them past and that’s what it’s going to take to go further in this competition.”<\/p>\n

Ireland were unable to break down a dogged New Zealand defence having defiantly stared down the Black Ferns’ pre-match Haka challenge.<\/p>\n

Ireland’s tough day was made worse by full-back Stacey Flood leaving the field in a protective boot and centre Eve Higgins leaving the pitch for a head injury assessment.<\/p>\n

“New Zealand are a physical team so we’ve got to find a way to cross the whitewash when we get those opportunities,” bemoaned Ireland coach Bemand.<\/p>\n

Both teams had already reached the quarter-finals before kick-off in their concluding pool game on England’s south coast, with the only outstanding issue the finishing order.<\/p>\n

– France to ‘be at our best’ for Ireland –<\/p>\n

France, so long England’s closest challengers in European women’s rugby, dominated the opening quarter in Northampton, with tries from full-back Emilie Boulard and centre Gabrielle Vernier.<\/p>\n

But it was an upgraded red card for a head-on-head tackle by South Africa centre Chumisa Qawe which ultimately turned the match France’s way.<\/p>\n

French forwards Charlotte Escudero and Agathe Gerin powered over for tries while the Springboks were a player down, before Boulard grabbed her second.<\/p>\n

France wing Joanna Grisez scored twice, with Annaelle Deshaye and Alexandra Chambon also crossing South Africa’s line before Springbok scrum-half Nadine Roos scored a try with the last play of the game.<\/p>\n

“Our objective was to finish first and we did it,” said impressive France scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus.<\/p>\n

She added: “We still have a bit of tweaking to do but we’ll be at our best for next week against Ireland.”<\/p>\n

South Africa coach Swys de Bruin accepted his team had been outclassed.<\/p>\n

“Man, that’s a big stage,” he said. “They (France) are a very strong side, their set-piece is immaculate — they taught us a lesson there today.<\/p>\n

“But what I loved: we never stopped fighting, right to the end, and the crowd was behind us.”<\/p>\n

Earlier in Pool C, Japan bid farewell to this World Cup by overturning a nine-point deficit at half-time to beat Spain 29-21 in York.<\/p>\n

In another match between two previously winless sides at the tournament, Italy hammered Brazil, the first South American team to compete at a Women’s Rugby World Cup, 64-3.<\/p>\n

Le Azzurre ran in 12 tries, six in each half, with Francesca Granzotto and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi both scoring hat-tricks.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teenage rising star Braxton Sorensen-McGee grabbed a hat-trick of tries as reigning champions New Zealand secured top spot in Pool C of the Women’s Rugby World Cup with an emphatic 40-0 rout of Ireland in Brighton on Sunday. Victory saw the record six-time World Cup winners gain revenge for their shock 29-27 loss to Ireland […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}