Australia crush Papua New Guinea to move into final

Embed from Getty Images

Australia Women v Papua New Guinea Women

Australia are the first team through to the Rugby League World Cup Womens final after their 82-0 win over Papua New Guinea in York tonight.

The Jillaroos were ruthless in running in 15 tries in the huge win which saw both Isabelle Kelly and Emma Tonegato score hat-tricks while Shanae Ciesiolka got herself a pair of tries in the performance masterminded by Lauren Brown.

Coming off their tense win over New Zealand in their final pool game, Australia took their time to warm into the contest against a spirited Papua New Guinea team in the semi-final. 

Keeley Davis poked her nose through the defence and got the first four-pointer before Isabelle Kelly showed off her strength to bump off a defender and make it 10-0 to the reigning champions. 

Australia were in full flow after their tense start. The Jillaroos ran the ball on last tackle and despite the ball hitting the turf, Emma Tonegato found Kelly for her second four-pointer. 

The Jillaroos raced against the clock to make it 40-0 at the break and close to another final. Shaylee Bent strolled through then Tonegato was involved again to send Evania Pelite over for 24-0. 

Shenae Ciesolka showed off her speed from a scrum move, again orchestrated by Tonegato, to burn the Orchids defense and get onto the scoresheet. Roosters forward Olivia Kernick was next on the list as she pushed through the defence. 

Kelly completed a wonderful first half for herself with a hat-trick. Pelite showed off her passing game with a wonderful cut-out to Jessica Sergis, who found a striding Kelly inside her for the ominious 40-0 half-time score. 

The Jillaroos picked up right where they left off after the restart. Lauren Brown, who kicked four goals, started the move which saw Roosters team mates Kelly and Jessica Sergies for the latter to dive over.

They also punished any errors from the Orchids with a quickfire pair of tries. Ciesiolka was on the end of a backline move for her second then forward Tallisha Harden barged over from close range for 58-0. 

Tonegato who was magnificent across the whole game, got herself a double in quick time. Her first came from some good work from Pelite but the second was all the Dragons fullback, who sliced through and had too much pace for the defence. 

Papua New Guinea had some success with a short kick-off from Shellie Long. They had some sustained pressure on the Jillaroos line with Therese Aiton and Elsie Albert going close but the Aussies held firm. 

The reward for not allowing their line to be breached was a full field effort from Jaime Chapman. She brushed off some tired defence and had the pace to hold off the defence to make it 76-0.

There was another hat-trick in the offing for the Jillaroos. There was a massive overlap on the left side, Tonegato just saw the space and strolled over to make it 82-0.