Ponsonby warns Black Ferns that 66-14 win over Scotland won't be enough to beat England

Stand-in Black Ferns captain Georgia Ponsonby has warned that New Zealand’s 66-14 demolition of Scotland at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday will not be a sufficient standard to overcome England in next weekend’s WXV Global Series fixture at Allianz Stadium.

The Black Ferns were sluggish in the opening exchanges, with Mo’omo’oga Palu and Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu crossing early before Scotland hit back through Evie Gallagher in front of their home crowd. New Zealand then shifted gears in the second half, running in four unanswered tries to seal a comprehensive victory.

Ponsonby, who holds the captaincy while regular skipper Ruahei Demant recovers from a calf injury, acknowledged the quality of the opposition before turning her focus to what needs to improve.

“I think it was a really exciting game. There were a lot of cool tries scored out there, and I think it was a cool opportunity for us to show our X factor and the players that we’ve got,” the hooker told reporters. “Scotland were a quality team. I think they showed a lot of heart out there. I think the scoreline doesn’t reflect the tussle and the battle that we experienced out there.”

Despite the margin of victory, Ponsonby was candid about the areas England will look to exploit if the Black Ferns fail to tighten up.

“I think probably just our ball security, making those right decisions to carry or to make the offload, and then yeah, secure our rucks so that we can get quick ball and exploit the space,” she said. “I think week on week we’ve grown, we’ve gotten better each week, and I’m really proud of how we’ve done that. But today’s performance won’t be good enough to beat England.”

One bright spot from the Edinburgh outing was the XV debut of Black Ferns Sevens outside-back Maia Davis, who came off the bench to replace Braxton Sorensen-McGee in the 50th minute. Head coach Whitney Hansen was effusive in her praise of the debutant, though confirmed Davis will return to the Sevens environment after the tour.

“Maia is a special human being, and I think it’s sort of been a matter of when, not if, she was going to be a Black Fern,” Hansen said. “The most exciting thing about her is that she’s so hungry to be better — what we saw tonight is just the beginning of something really special.”

Hansen added, with a degree of humour, that she had floated the idea of Davis staying on for additional fixtures, but the player has opted to return to the Sevens set-up for now.