Stirring battle cry drives Kiwi Ferns to crush England

The Kiwi Ferns laid the cards on the table when they opened the first test against England with a stirring Nga Wahine Toa haka at Toll Stadium.
They performed the haka, which was written by the 2008 Women's Rugby League World Cup-winning Kiwi Ferns team for the current squad, with as much passion and heart as they played with during a bruising encounter. New Zealand outplayed the visitors to win comfortably 44-6.
The Kiwi Ferns started strongly on defence and kept England in their own half for the first 10 minutes before lock forward Honey Hireme drove across the line to start a scoring fest for the Kiwi Ferns.
On attack, the Kiwi Ferns were dangerous, throwing the ball around, constantly looking for holes in the English defensive line which began to open up as fatigue caught up with them.
Sarina Fiso, Maryann Hemara and skipper Trish Hina all ran in tries in the first half, along with Hireme who snagged her second, to give the Ferns a handy 24-0 lead at half-time.
England came close to scoring on several occasions when they used the ball out wide, but the Ferns defence was too good, wrapping up the visitors quickly, and stripping them of possession.
The Ferns kept wearing down the English during the second half.
Five-eighth Laura Mariu crossed the line to score just after the restart, followed by a try apiece from Rona Peters and Karley Te Korua to extend New Zealand's lead out to 36-0.
With 18 minutes to go, England capitalised on a rare lapse in the Ferns' defence and sent Paula McCourt in for their sole try of the match, with Natalie Gilmour nudging the ball over the goal post for the conversion.
New Zealand replied with more tries, one each from from Te Korua and Jo Leef, who finished the game with a runaway effort, dotting the ball down in the left corner in the final minute.
Ferns coach Lynley Tierney-Mani, who was appointed earlier this year said while it was a fine performance from her girls, there was always some tidying up to do as the team continued their build-up to the next World Cup to be played in 2012 or 2013 although the date has yet to be confirmed.
The Kiwi Ferns play England again in the second and final international test on Friday at Waitakere Stadium in Auckland, which hopefully gives the tourists enough time to recover.
"England are definitely the walking wounded after today [yesterday]. To visit New Zealand at this stage is great for them as they have a lot of new players in the squad and this trip will give them an understanding of the physical standard they need to reach.
"We play a very physical game and that is our strength," the former Kiwi Ferns player said.