England saw their dream of World Cup glory slip away this afternoon in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, when they went down 19-9 to the New Zealand Black Ferns.

In what was an extremely tight encounter, New Zealand drew first blood with a penalty goal from fullback Tammi Wilson after England was blown for collapsing the maul. England was quick to retaliate in the form of three points from the boot of flyhalf Shelley Rae. With honours even in the forward battle, Wilson put New Zealand ahead with her second penalty, only to see Rae strike back with an impudent drop goal.

Rae then added a penalty to make it 9-6 to England, but Monique Hirovanaa struck the killer blow by scoring the game’s first try in the 34th minute. The scrumhalf sneaked around the blind side of a ruck on the England 22m and won the race for the touch down. Wilson missed the conversion, leaving the game wide open at 11-9 to New Zealand at halftime.

The Black Ferns opened the second half with another body blow to England when Hirovanaa broke through the England defence in the 47th minute and gave the scoring pass to her flanker Cheryl Waaka. Wilson missed the simple conversion, but England still had it all to do at 16-9.

Try as they might, the gallant England players could find no way through the black wall of the New Zealand defence and in the end, it was replacement centre Hannah Myers who completed their misery with an injury time penalty to make it 19-9.

Darryl Suasua, the New Zealand coach paid tribute to England’s brave effort. “England were fantastic. I think they’ve led the way in the development of the women’s game. The rest of the teams need to catch up with the programme that they are running."

Paula George, England’s captain, said: “I thought the New Zealanders defended very well. It was very tight and they played the percentage game very well. It was a very different team to the ’98 team. We had them running scared for long periods of time, but unfortunately we didn’t capitalise on our opportunities. We didn’t turn our pressure into points.”

 Geoff Richards, the England coach, said: “Obviously we are really disappointed, everybody is, but the better team won on the day. I thought they were magnificent up front.”

 England Team

     15.        Paula George (Wasps) -                     Captain

14.        Nicky Crawford (Worcester)

13.        Nicki Jupp (Richmond)

12.        Selena Rudge (Clifton)

11.        Sue Day (Wasps)

10.        Shelley Rae (Wasps)

9.         Jo Yapp (Worcester)

1.         Maxine Edwards (Saracens)

2.         Amy Garnett (Saracens)

3.         Vanessa Huxford (Wasps)

4.         Karen Henderson (Clifton)

5.         Teresa Andrews (Richmond)

6.         Jenny Phillips (Richmond)

7.         Georgia Stevens (Clifton)

8.         Claire Frost (Saracens)

16.        Ann O’Flynn (Waterloo) - repl. A. Garnett (30-40 mins)

17.        Teresa O’Reilly (Saracens) - repl. M. Edwards (53 mins)

18.        Helen Clayton (Saracens) - repl. J. Phillips (53 mins)

19.        Gill Burns (Waterloo) - repl. T. Andrews (75 mins)

20.        Susie Appleby (Clifton) - repl. S. Rae (56-61mins)

21.        Assunta De Biase (Saracens) - repl. S. Rudge (73 mins)

22.        Emily Feltham (Richmond)

New Zealand Team

15.        Tammi Wilson

14.        Dianna Kahura

13.        Annaleah Rush

12.        Suzy Shortland

11.        Amiria Marsh

10.        Anna Richards

9.         Monique Hirovanaa

1.         Regina Sheck

2.         Farah Palmer

3.         Rebecca Luiaána

4.         Monalisa Codling

5.         Victoria Heighway

6.         Cheryl Waaka

7.         Adrienne Lilii

8.         Rochelle Martin

 Replacements

16.        Fiaao Faamausili

17.        Helen Vaága - repl. R. Sheck (52 mins)

18.        Fiona King

19.        Melodie Robinson - repl. A. Lilii (75 mins)

20.        Emma Jensen

21.        Hannah Myers - repl. S. Shortland (66 mins)

22.        Vanessa Cootes

Yellow cards: Amy Garnett - England (30 mins); Victoria Heighway - New Zealand (64 mins)

Attendance: 7,800

Record of scoring

3-0 Penalty goal by New Zealand’s no.15 Tammi Wilson

3-3 Penalty goal by England’s no.10 Shelley Rae

6-3 Penalty goal by New Zealand’s no.15 Tammi Wilson

6-6 Drop-goal by England’s no.10 Shelley Rae

6-9 Penalty goal by England’s no.10 Shelley Rae

11-9 Try by New Zealand’s no.9 Monique Hirovanaa

Halftime Score 11-9 to New Zealand

16-9 Try by no.9 New Zealand’s Monique Hirovanna

19-9 Penalty goal by New Zealand’s no.21 Hannah Myers

Final Score 19-9 to New Zealand