Jorja Miller of New Zealand in action. Photo: www.photosport.nz
Sevens star Jorja Miller and winger Ayesha Leti-I'iga have scored try doubles, as the Black Ferns began their Rugby World Cupdefence with a clunky 54-8 victory over Spain at York.
They struggled early against the tournament outsiders, but finished the contest with only 13 players, after using all their substitutions and continued to lose key players to injury.
Barnstorming No.8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker was carted from the field with a knee injury that looks likely to end her tournament, while Leti-I'iga also hobbled off with an ankle injury, leaving her team shorthanded.
Kaipo Olsen-Baker is driven off of the field with injury. Photo: AFP / Adrian Dennis
Playing at openside flanker, Miller wasted little time stamping her class on the event, scoring New Zealand's first two tries, with a combination of power and pace.
No.8 Liana Mikaele-Tu'u had the Ferns' only other try of the first half, as the plucky Spanish held them scoreless for 16 minutes into the break.
While the world champions were never seriously threatened by their European rivals, their performance was littered with mistakes and they led 21-3 at the break.
Coach Allan Bunting injected his bench early and often, using up his substitutes to give players a taste of the big occasion.
New Zealand's wing Ayesha Leti-I'iga is tackled by Spain's centre Claudia Pena Hidalgo. Photo: AFP / Adrian Dennis
After the restart, tries to Leti-I'iga and hooker Georgia Ponsonby in quick succession swelled the lead, before the winger powered over in the corner for her second, before leaving the game.
Veteran Portia Woodman-Wickliffe was busy when she came on, scoring a try and popping up all over the field, as the Ferns tried to cover for their fallen teammates.
Amy du Plessis runs with the ball during the pool C match against Spain in York. Photo: AFP / Adrian Dennis
Centre Theresa Setefano completed the NZ scoring, but Spain had one last moment of triumph, powering over for a consolation try with time up.
New Zealand emerged with a bonus-point win, but have plenty to work on, knowing archrivals England overwhelmed the same opponents by 90 points in their World Cup build-up.
Spain scored a consolation try after the fulltime siren.
Mikaele-Tu'u was named player of the match after making 17 carries, six offloads, two turnovers and scoring one try.
"That was a really tough game so I'm actually really surprised by those stats. Amazing performance by Spain. We knew that this is more than a World Cup to them, so we didn't take this game lightly," Tu'u said.
"It feels like a lot more than (a crowd of) 7,500. It's been amazing and so nice to see so many black jerseys out there, a taste from home."
Black Ferns coach Allan Bunting was satisfied with his side's performance, but said they have plenty to work on.
"Good to see our ladies get out there and play, chuck the ball around a little bit. We probably overplayed a little bit in the first half. But you can't knock them for their intent out there. We just need to be a little bit more clinical."
Black Ferns captain Alana Bremner said the scoreline didn't reflect the toughness of the match.
"Congratulations to Spain. We knew they were going to bring a lot of heart and that's exactly what they did. But we came together and we're just really excited to kick this campaign off, Bremner said.
"There was definitely a lot of excitement out there and some of those passes weren't sticking so we'll look to clean that up but the first game we weren't expecting perfection.
"Plenty of heart shown when we went down to 13 players [through injury] and we also covered that 'what if?' in the weeks of preparation leading up to this."
In the other Pool C game overnight, Ireland defeated Japan 42-14.
The Black Ferns next pool game is against Japan on Monday 1 September.
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