Wallaroos target first-ever win over Black Ferns in historic 100th Test

The Wallaroos head to New Zealand for their 100th Test as a national team on Saturday, carrying a belief that they can end a 30-match losing streak against the Black Ferns — a run that dates back to September 1994.

Assistant coach Mike Ruthven was direct when addressing reporters ahead of the second O’Reilly Cup fixture. “We’ve come here with the mindset that we can win the game. That’s certainly how we’ve prepared; that’s certainly been the messaging to the group this week,” he said. “We’ve certainly come here with the mindset that we can win this game.”

The most recent meeting between the sides, an Anzac Day fixture on the Sunshine Coast on 25 April, ended in a 35-point defeat for Australia. Siokapesi Palu Sekona was the Wallaroos’ sole try-scorer as the Black Ferns retained the O’Reilly Cup.

Yet there are signs the gap has been closing. The Wallaroos suffered three consecutive defeats by at least 40 points during the 2023 and 2024 Test seasons, but that margin narrowed ahead of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Eva Karpni was among the try-scorers as Australia kept it to a 26-point loss at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium on 10 May 2025, with a similar margin recorded when the sides met in Wellington two months later.

Between the Pac Four Series earlier this year and this week’s Test, Wallaroos squad members returned to their Super Rugby Women’s clubs. The NSW Waratahs completed a title-winning three-peat before falling 24-17 to Super Rugby Aupiki champions the Blues in the Champions Final at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval.

Ruthven believes that club rugby has sharpened the squad ahead of the O’Reilly Cup rematch. “The girls have been able to go back, play a Super season, get some footy under their belt — certainly coming in a bit more hardened than potentially what we were in that Pac Four Series,” he said. “We’re certainly in a far better position just based on the fact that the girls have got more footy in their legs.”

The Wallaroos reassembled last week and flew to New Zealand last Thursday. A first-ever win over the Black Ferns would be the most significant result in the programme’s history, and Ruthven’s squad appear determined to treat the occasion as an opportunity rather than an obligation.