England face the impossible task of stopping Portia Woodman

Portia Woodman celebrates scoring her fourth try in the semifinal win over the USA. Photosport

Defending Portia Woodman continues to prove an impossible task.

Woodman's feats were again to the fore as the Black Ferns marched into the World Cup final with a dominant 45-12 win over the USA in Belfast on Wednesday morning (NZT).

After collecting four further tries, Woodman took her personal tally to 13 in four games; seven more than Canada's Magali Harvey.

One try against the USA was as good as any you will see. Coming off her right wing from a scrum, Woodman beat four defenders in a remarkable 40 metre burst. The way she did it was so impressive; changing direction in an instant without losing pace and shifting the ball from side to side to allow her to fend with both hands.

Any wonder Woodman is also the tournament's top points scorer with 65 - 14 points ahead of team-mate Kendra Cocksedge.

"It's pretty awesome. We started off slow and America came at us hard at the rucks. Once we got a solid lineout and scrum we were able to spread it wide and I was hanging out there waiting for the ball," Woodman said. "The girls do all the hard yards through the middle and the wingers are just out there looking for lots of space."

The Black Ferns didn't half it all their own way, leading 15-7 at halftime and another yellow card, this time to veteran loose forward Linda Itunu, made life difficult for a period. But much more clinical second half saw them surge into the final against England, who defeated France 20-3 in the other semifinal, on Sunday morning (NZT).

"We shouldn't have to wait until that point to work harder but we've pretty much played the whole series one man down so we're used to it. We shouldn't be, but it's happening all the time," Woodman said.

"We've still got a lot of improvement. We can't get another yellow card in this game because it puts us under stress outside and through the middle so we've got to stay disciplined.

"It's pretty cool. It's wasn't until the final whistle went and you look around and think 'oh my goodness we're actually in the final'. Back home the girls work full time around their rugby it's pretty incredible to know little old New Zealand can get to another final.

"The coaches have been able to manage a few of us so a lot of the players are still quite fresh considering how many recovery days we get and how many games we have been playing."